Alexi felt a hand on her
head and screamed as Ordo pulled her by the hair off her board. She scratched and
kicked trying to free herself, but Ordo grinned hideously at her as he hung
onto the giant wing of the ugly bat.
“Brandon, Brandon, help
me, please!” she shrieked.
Brandon turned his board and
raced toward the bat. When he caught up with it, he grabbed hold of the its
hind legs and began stabbing them with his pocket knife. Grisly screams rippled
loudly through the barren desert as one of the bat’s toes was cut off as the
bat tried to get away.
“Oh God, someone please
help us!” Alexi cried out.
Instantly, Ordo dropped
Alexi onto her board, and he and Colhozeh flew away with a noise that Brandon
thought would wake the dead. There before them was Silver Wing sitting on his
majestic white horse.
“You called my Lord and
Master,” he said serenely, as if under a cool moonlit sky. Looking down on them,
he waited for them to speak.
Brandon and Alexi stared
at each other, and then Brandon boldly spoke, “You said we would find another
bush out here. Can you point us in the right direction, and will we find it
before nightfall?”
“Keep heading north for
two hours then go north-west for three hours more,” he commanded with a brisk
tone of voice, and then he disappeared into the east.
“Why didn’t you ask him
who he was and if he could help us?” Alexi asked, hinting at anger.
“Why
didn’t you?” he retorted. “You’re so smart!”
“Well, maybe next time I
will. Obviously you don’t have the good sense to. You’re just like a man, too
proud to ask for help, but I am surprised you asked for directions!”
“Didn’t I just save you? Where
would you be now if it weren’t for me?”
She frowned. “Thank you,
now let’s just get going. We have the rest of this miserable day ahead of us.”
Alexi and Brandon continued on for another hour when
Alexi motioned for them to halt. Dejected and wanting to cry. “I’m tired and
hungry,” she said. “I want some more bread and water.”
“We sound like we’re on a prison diet. But I’m
hungry too.” He handed her the bread and water. She took a little of both and gave
them back. “You know, I was thinking about what you said after that man on the
horse appeared. I had every intention of asking him who he was, but for some
reason I was unable to form the words. It was as if my tongue was tied, and then
before I knew it he was gone, just like the last time.”
“There is something quite magnificent about him,” Alexi
sighed. “He’s awesome to look at and has a mysterious power that makes him
impenetrable. Maybe he doesn’t want us to know who he is.” Suddenly she gasped
choking on a piece of bread and pointed. “It looks like an army of black bugs!”
“And they’re moving very fast. Let’s go. Straight
ahead is north.” Brandon shouted, as the noise of the encroaching hoard drew
nearer.
With her heart in her throat, Alexi screamed as a
hideous black bug jumped up onto her leg. Before she could swat it off, masses
of beetle-like bugs attacked her legs. “Brandon, help me,” she cried.
Looking back at her, he screamed, “Keep going Alexi.
It’s no good to stop yet. I see the end of them.”
Unsure of what he said, she continued to beat the bugs
off with one hand and hold on to the strap of the board with the other. Finally
she jumped off her board and smashed as many roaches as she could, but they
kept coming. Now it was too late for her to get back on the board because they
were climbing all over her. She ran, terrorized from the bug bites, screaming
and bleeding with blistered feet, and then she fainted.
She did not see that Brandon had come back for her. He
had arrived just in time to catch her and the board. They were almost to the
end of the hard surface and the moment they reached the sand, the bugs
disappeared.
Brandon looked down at Alexi. She was becoming more
trouble than he wanted. He almost wished he was alone, and then he wouldn’t
have to bother. Well, he thought, there’s nothing to be done about it. It’s my
fault we’re here anyway, even if she is a pain, she is pretty.
“Oh, was I dreaming?” she looked up at him. “What
happened?” she brushed a strand of hair from her face and stared at Brandon. “You
came back for me, thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. Now let’s have a look at your
legs.”
She stared down at her nylons and they were perfect;
it was as if the army of roaches had never touched her. “I can’t believe it. They
were all over me and I don’t even have a run in my stockings. Thank you for
saving me Brandon.” She began to cry. “I want to go home now.”
“Enough of this,” he said harshly. “I suppose we’ll
get home sooner or later. But there’s no sense in crying about it. You’re really
beginning to irritate me. I’m always saving you and it’s quite tiresome. So,
since you appear to be fine, get back on your board and let’s ride. We have
another five hours the man said.”
He waited for her to get up, amused watching her
jump off him and onto her board without touching the scorching sand. He
refrained from laughing however, and the minute he saw she was set he grabbed
his straps and took off like a shot. She followed. They hadn’t gone five hundred
yards when without warning Brandon disappeared just as she crested the top of a
dune. She heard him scream for help and saw his board sticking straight up in
the sand. His head was barely visible from the crevice he had fallen into.
“Help me!” Brandon cried out. “Help me, Alexi. Grab
hold of my board and pull. Stand on you board if it’s too hot. Hurry, I’m
burning up.”
She rushed to his aid and pulled as hard as she
could, but only kept him from sinking farther. Then she had an idea. She sat on
her board and took off her nylons, tied one leg around her waist and flung the
other to Brandon.
“Here take hold of that with one hand and hold onto
your board with the other. I’m going to pull on my straps and see if I can get
you out.”
“These things will never hold. What a stupid plan. Can’t
you come up with anything better?”
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