Chapter 11
What did I say? What did I tell her?” Leaping to his feet, Nodring raced over to where Jasmine lay crumpled on the ground, wisps of smoke rising like cobwebs from her hair. “I warned her, did I not?”
The rest of us hadn’t moved, too dumbfounded by what had happened.
Running his fingers through his silvery hair, Nodring stared down at Jasmine in disbelief. “That stubborn girl didn’t listen to a word I said.”
She wasn’t stirring. It didn’t look like she was even breathing, and her Spade lay in the dirt next to her lifeless fingers.
“What happened to her?” I asked, finally finding my voice, my heart racing out of control.
“Zapped! Like I said would happen. I wasn’t lying to you. Don’t you touch her!” Nodring barked, as Sierra was inches away from grabbing Jasmine’s arm.
“Why? What happens if we touch her?” Sierra yanked her hands back, but then she cautiously picked up Jasmine’s Spade lying in the grass.
“Your friend is like a conduit now, and that current will spread, shocking anything that comes in contact with her skin,” Nodring explained.
“Is she dead?” Miles looked panicked, his eyes already beginning to glisten with tears.
“No, Miles, she’s not dead,” I said this more to myself than to Miles. I had to convince myself it was true to keep the Creepers from exploding out of me.
Already my chest had started tightening up, panic sinking in and taking hold of my lungs. Calm down, Lucas. Calm down! I told myself. I had to keep my mind clear. Jasmine couldn’t be dead because she was still laying in front of us on the ground. Had she actually died, she would have disappeared. There was no need to freak out yet. All but one of the bloodstones on Jasmine’s Advancement Medallion had turned completely dark, and the only stone left was quivering like it was running out of juice. Jasmine was hanging on by a thread.
“You guys really are thick, aren’t you?” Nodring grumbled. “You didn’t even try to negotiate. I could’ve come way down on my price. Way down! Thirty gold was my starting point, but no, you had to go and touch the tree. Who in their right mind does that?”
Nodring honestly seemed distraught by Jasmine’s dismal condition, and I didn’t know whether that should have made me feel better about the situation or worse. On the one hand, this man wasn’t acting like our enemy anymore, but on the other, he was at a loss of what to do to help Jasmine.
“Can you wake her up?” I asked Sierra.
Eyes bulging in surprise, Sierra made a sound like a hiccup. Then a moment later, she summoned her Spark.
“Let me try something,” she said, starting to play.
At first, Sierra plucked a few strings, her fingers bumbling the notes, but then she gained control, and the music started to flow. Though I couldn’t remember what it sounded like whenever Vanessa would play her Spark, I had to think Sierra was better, and I could feel those awful Creepers fading away. But they didn’t go completely away.
“Why isn’t she waking up?” Miles asked. “Why is she still like that?”
Nodring stared at the three of us, his forehead creasing. “She should wake up, eventually—I think. Honestly, I don’t know. I’ve never been here when someone has been foolish enough to touch the tree. Luminary magic might not be enough to bring her back, I’m afraid. That’s a leprechaun’s spell right there. Quawk. Remember?”
“Yes, we remember,” I groaned, realizing once again how unprepared we were for the Fifth-Level challenges of this Quest. Had we truly been Sapphire Champions, would Jasmine have suffered this much damage?
“Can we at least pick her up?” Sierra asked.
We couldn’t leave Jasmine lying there on the ground, but how were we supposed to touch her if she was now acting like some kind of conduit?
“Get up, Dungle,” Nodring said, turning his head. “We have ourselves a problem here.”
The ground began to rumble, not quite as loud as when Jasmine had torn up the forest an hour earlier, but jarring all the same, and the boulder Nodring had been propped up against suddenly sprouted arms and legs and stood up.
Miles gasped. In one fluid motion, he produced his Compendium of Monsters from his Dispenser as a massive green creature seemed to unfold from the ground. Gangly and thin, its hooked arms hanging low enough to drag its knuckles across the ground, the creature had ratty black hair dangling in front of its bloodshot eyes and a wide jack-o-lantern mouth stretching across its wart-covered face.
“Troll!” Miles screeched. “Twenty-two Strength, eleven Speed, ten Wisdom—”
“It doesn’t matter, Miles!” My Gadget released a chirp as I pressed on the button, and the dagger shot out.
Trolls were trouble. I held my breath, waiting for the Champion’s Catch to appear. I knew we were headed for a gruesome battle—but time remained at normal speed. Our surroundings never froze, and Sierra and Miles squeezed in beside me as the troll lumbered forward, its feet plodding heavily against the ground.
“Stay back!” I warned, stepping in front of the others, my Gadget outstretched. “I’ll stab you!”
“Stab Dungle?” Nodring looked appalled. “For what?”
“Dungle?” Miles gulped. “I thought you were making a weird sound.”
“Dungle’s her name, isn’t it?” Nodring scoffed. “And if you want her help, I’d put down that pokey little blade of yours and get out of her way.”
That troll was huge. And so . . . green! It was like she was a goblin, but twice the size and on steroids.
“What has happened to the girl?” Dungle the troll asked, her low voice sending a tremor through my chest.
“She touched the tree,” Nodring said.
“Why did you let her do that?” Dungle glared down at Nodring who stood at least two feet below the monster’s shoulders.
“I didn’t let her do anything.” Nodring dug his fists into his hips. “I specifically told her not to touch it. You were right there next to me, and you heard what I said. Those big, floppy ears of yours aren’t painted on!”
“Yes, but you were not very convincing,” Dungle said, bending over and reaching for Jasmine.
The thought of stabbing her crossed my mind for about a millisecond, but then I figured I’d only enrage a troll who wasn’t necessarily acting aggressively toward any of us. Instead, I sidestepped out of her way, as Dungle scooped a hand beneath Jasmine and, without any strain or effort, hoisted her off the ground.
“Doesn’t it shock her too?” Sierra asked.
“Nah, troltusses don’t get zapped like normal folk,” Nodring explained. “Dungle’s skin absorbs electricity.”
“Troltusses?” Reverting to his Compendium, Miles began searching for the new entry. “So, she’s not a troll?”
“Yes, she’s a troll. Of course she’s a troll!” Exasperated, Nodring threw his hands above his head. “But you can see her shell there, can’t you? Plain as day.”
What we had mistakenly thought was a boulder had actually been the tortoise-like shell attached to Dungle’s body. Delicately cradled close to Dungle’s chest, Jasmine looked like a rag doll, her arms and legs sagging over the creature’s elbows.
Nodring puckered his lips and blew a raspberry. “Right. Change of plans. We’re going to need to take this girl straightway to a healer.”
Dungle gazed down at Jasmine, the monster’s eyes appearing both kind and concerned. “But there is no healer close by,” she said. “And I fear there is not enough time.”
“Well, we have to try, right?” Nodring muttered.
“Then you agree we must take her to the Fortress of the Fiend?” Dungle asked.
“Right. The Fortress of the—” Nodring’s voice puttered out, his forehead crinkling. “Is that pudding between your ears? The Fortress of the Fiend? We can’t go there!”
“We have to,” Dungle insisted. “I do not like it any more than you, but it is the only way to reverse the curse of the Smoke Tree.”
“What’s at the Fortress of the Fiend?” Miles asked.
“Never you mind,” Nodring said. “Because we’re not going.”
Dungle took a huge step toward the bridge. “Stay close to me,” she said, looking down at the three of us. “And you shall not get shocked.”
“No, Dungle, absolutely not!” Nodring barked. “The rest of ’em don’t get free passage. Not without paying the fee. What’s the point of our operation if we don’t make any money?”
Despite his insistence, he shifted to one side to avoid getting trampled. As Dungle moved toward the Smoke Tree, Nodring hurriedly snatched up a travel pack he had stowed in the tall grass and slung a strap over his shoulder, grumbling under his breath.
Normally, I would have objected to the idea of following the monster through an electrically charged tree of smoke, but Dungle had Jasmine, and we couldn’t just abandon her. Then again, what if Jasmine had been right? What if Nodring and Dungle were playing us? They could’ve easily been placed in our way by Mystery Waddlewort to lead us off track. Would she have trusted them? Or would she have attacked? Despite my reservations, I fell in line behind the massive creature.
“What about the key?” Miles asked.
“Dungle is the key,” Nodring said.
As soon as the troltus approached the rope bridge, the Smoke Tree dissipated, swooshing and swishing into wisps of vapor. We passed through without even the faintest hint of a shock. The bridge strained beneath Dungle’s weight, but even though it was carrying such a heavy monster, it held. And Dungle was nimble. Keeping her balance, it took her less than fifteen lengthy strides to cross the ravine, and then we were over onto the other side.