the Forest of Emmitaenu

Dematerialized

[Cover art by Illiyana Omareva]

After they finished dinner Zeftx lifted the tray ready to wash the dishes on it. Jade climbed to her feet and took the tray from his hands.

"I'll wash them, it's the least I can do since you made dinner," Zeftx offered but Jade used her body as a shield between him and the tray in her hands, refusing his proposal.

"Nonsense boy, I'll wash while you keep Lara company." Jade scooped up a candle and carried the tray through the kitchen door, shutting it closed behind her with the heel of her foot.

Again Lara was alone with Zeftx in the candlelit room. The light from the flickering flames danced shadows across his face as he sunk back into his seat on the rug. She watched the shadows move as she too sat back down cross legged with her knees pointing toward his.

The way the scarce light touched his skin exaggerated the dimensions of his face so that she could easily see the glitter in his eyes and the angles of his high cheekbones. His moony complexion was bleached even more by the glowing flames. Rather than looking more frighteningly like the demon he claimed to be, the accents only served to magnify his beauty.

"Thank you," Lara murmured, "for helping me."

"Thank you," Zeftx said in reply. He leaned forward, gazing into her eyes while his filled up with unspoken questions. Lara felt immensely lured to him, drawn in by his unguarded thoughts which seemed so completely exposed in the colorful glitter-speckled depths of his eyes.

"For what," she almost forgot to ask. She was happily drowning under his hypnosis. Lara would gladly stay sitting forever like this, watching his eyes shift colors with his thoughts. He had to be feeling something too.

Instead of answering her question, Zeftx placed both of his hands on the floor between them and leaned forward closer to her. Confirmation that he was definitely in the moment with her and it wasn't just her imagination. Lara's pulse thundered in her ears and she licked her lips nervously.

Without warning Jade broke into the room in a panic. She was running around extinguishing the candles as the roar of the gargoyles hovered above them. Too late, Lara realized it wasn't the her pulse drumming in her ears as she had thought, but a very real thundering monstrosity coming to get them!

Lara jumped to her feet as a few thuds sounded on the roof above. Her eyes flew to the open shutters over the window. They were caught by the candle light seeping through the glass widow like a beacon to the stone beasts.

A pair of angry black eyes set into a snarling stony face pressed against the transparent barrier. The piercing glare found Lara's terrified face in the dimming room and the creature released an earsplitting screech. Lara blinked once and the monstrous gargoyle broke in through the window sending shards of glass flying everywhere. Ducking, Lara made herself as small as possible and shielded her body with her arms like she was taught to do in a school tornado drill.

More gargoyles forced their way in the window as the first stood tall and imposing, sniffing at the air while its bat-like wings curling around its back like a tortoise shell. Catching her scent, it lunged for Jade who was still making a futile attempt to put out the last candles.

"No!" Lara heard Zeftx shout and she screamed in terror as he tackled Jade, barely rolling them both out of the clutches of the beast. Zeftx and Jade both sprang back to their feet in less time than it would have taken Lara to breathe if she actually had enough motor function left in her body to breathe. Her eyes were wide as saucers and her mouth formed a perfect 'O' behind her hands.

There were now three gargoyles inside the hut with even more fighting to squeeze through the hole in the wall where a window had been minutes earlier. Zeftx and Jade both unhooked the cloaks they were still wearing, knowing it would tangle them up again if they had to make another acrobatic dive then both ran toward Lara. Before Zeftx cloak could hit the floor, a bolder sized claw seized it out of the air, followed by a growl of frustration.

"Lara!" Zeftx yelled as a gargoyle thrust itself between them. Lara was hidden from view behind the massive beast that now faced Jade and Zeftx, pitting the two between him and the others at their backs.

This isn't happening. None of this is real, Lara tried to convince herself. She flinched as another thunderous bellow rattled the rafters. Zeftx eyes sought hers over the shoulder of their intruder. He caught them for just an instant. In his she saw fear and indecision followed by overwhelming regret before he pulled Jade into his arms and cradled her to his chest. With his parental guardian held tight, he turned and dove at the wall. Both dematerialized into the solid surface and disappeared.

Lara breathed at last, so insanely relieved that they were safe, but she forgot to exhale as the gargoyle turned to face her with his companions following suit. Suddenly her mouth was dry as a desert and her hands clammy against the sleeves of her cloak. With slow cautious steps she started walking backwards away from the gigantic fiend. The gargoyles watched her closely as the nearest steadily approached until she was cornered with nowhere left to run.

Her mind spun with unexpected anger at herself for not paying more attention to Jades ranting about gargoyles as the beast huddled closer, sniffing her hair and breathing hot breath on her face. She could see the infestation of moss between its alligator-like teeth giving its breath a dank stench. Would it eat her? She cringed and inched further away. Her back pressed into the wall and she gasped.

This was it; this was the end of the line. Lara began to hyperventilate, the adrenaline in her veins running out as time hung suspended around this moment. Just as the gargoyle extended its wicked claws and snatched out at her, two arms emerged from the wall at her back and hugged her tightly. The last shallow breath she took squeezed out of her lungs as she was pulled backward and dematerialized into the wall. The reaching claw of the gargoyle hit nothing but solid log cabin interior.