Chapter 21: Tricks
Isolde walks into Sam's room, and the narration refers to her as "the acting Queen". Which makes sense; Samantha is supposed to be the queen. She's only ten, but as we've seen in this story, kids can do anything adults can do and even hold adult positions in the Aerynonian government, so there's nothing weird about this.
Isolde tells Sam to put on a gown and garland that she brought in the room. I guess it really is important that Sam dress up to celebrate fertility and "the glorious feminine".
When Sam heads to the beach near the cave and bay where she first entered Aerynon, her people were celebrating. Dancing, roasting fish, juggling, acrobatics, playing games.
It isn't long before the inevitable happens. Yes, the bad guys attack.
In case you forgot, a Zint looks like a handgun, but is solar-powered (which I guess makes it useless at night) and shoots beams of concentrated light.
The partygoers grab weapons and anything else they can, but the Orci overwhelm them.
The Orci rode back into the jungle, clutching the yelling, kicking little girls as Krell stopped to check over the crowd one last time.
Looks like the bad guys aren't wasting time on trying to prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled. Which girl could be Sam?
They quickly find her.
He kicked over the table and grabbed Sam's arm, yanking her up across his saddle. Then he spurred his kallion and took off with her.
Malachi manages to fetch Captain Tithers (yup, remember him?) and the two chase after the bad guys, but they're too fast.
And there's the chapter: everyone parties, and then bad guys come and kidnap all the girls more or less Sam's age.
Chapter 22: The Foot of the Cliff
The Orci make their way to a cliff wall and one of them shouts the spell, "Effractum". An opening appears in the cliff wall.
What is with these spell names? Google might provide an answer... lemme check...
Aha! Latin's not a dead language; it's one that's grown old and powerful and outright magical.
They head inside the cliff and go through a series of tunnels.
You know, this reminds me of something I learned in elementary school. They would tell kids that if you're ever kidnapped, you should try to pay attention to any landmark you could possibly think of, so that when rescued or when your ransom is paid off, you can lead the police to your captors' hideout.
I don't know if they teach kids that now, but they taught that then. One of my elementary school reading/English textbooks even had a short story of a kid who did just that, memorizing as many landmarks as she could when kidnapped.
(Also, that sort of stuff is Paranoia Fuel if you think about it!)
The kids get shoved into a stone room. A room with nothing in it of any kind, no furniture, no nothing. These are not friendly kidnappers.
Okay, what's with the random stutter? Is it an attempt to add some kind of comic relief to what is admittedly a rather fucked-up situation? It's a weird choice. We lost our Lemony Narrator a long time ago, and the story switched to character quirks rather than narrator quirks.
Dain broke her grasp and shoved Thelwyne into the dungeon room. "B-b-b-back, you idiot. you'll have your turn," he said, slamming the door shut.
Uh oh. Her turn? For what? It's obvious they're looking for Samantha, and the kids all make that clear immediately afterward, as they all turn and look at her and step back.
Yeah, Sam! Why don't you be a responsible fifth grader and go get executed already? Or whatever it is they have in store for her, but let's face it, I doubt this is a Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island type situation where the bad guys want to raise the hero as one of their own. They probably just want Sam dead.
"Isn't it obvious? He's looking for you," Thelwyne said.
"Who's looking for me?"
"Draegor, of course. Can't you see it? You must discipline yourself to use your powers. Especially the ones we've been working on."
"That guy never gives up."
"You made that baby disappear and appear somewhere else, right?" Thelwyne asked.
But Sam doesn't know how she did it...
Chapter 23: Save Us
Draegor is quite the cocky asshole. The entire palace feels like a tribute to him. He's like the Donald Trump of fantasy villains.
Honestly, I think the creepy thing here is that Draegor even has such a harem in the first place.
Dain brings the 10-year-old girl, Peeper, in.
Draegor just went from cartoonish to creepy to downright evil in the span of less than two pages.
Sam sits in the dungeon, while all the other girls sit in a semi-circle around her, staring, and making her pretty obvious, as Sam attempts her teleportation magic.
"Let us go, you filthy coward," she shouted. "Where's Peeper?"
Dain grabbed Thelwyne and pulled her out the door, "You seem eager. You next."
Thelwyne looked back at the girls. "He'll kill us all," she warned. Then she directed her gaze at Sam and moved her lips. "Save us," Sam saw just before the door slammed shut.
How do the bad guys not notice that Sam is clearly the center of attention there? And yes, they're killing kids. But then, as you'll recall, one of the first things Sam noticed when she first reached Aerynon is the death of several kids and teens right before her eyes. Infant Immortality does not exist in this world.
Back at the beach, meanwhile, Captain Tithers walks around the remains of the party, and yells at Malachi for not warning him sooner.
"What are we waiting for? Let's storm the place," Donum said, as impulsive as ever.
"They'll kill us on sight (hiccup)," Arstaef said. Everyone turned at stared at him. "Sorry (hiccup). Can't help it (hiccup)."
"But we must rescue the girls," Isolde said. "Caelum, what's your advice?"
Everyone turned and looked at the wise, old man. He paused - taking a long time to answer. "Believe in Sam," he said. "She may be a clumsy little girl, but she's not without certain resources."
In other words, they're screwed.
Back in the palace, Dain brings Thelwyne to Draegor.
The scene switches back to the dungeon the other girls are held in. Sam's still trying to do some kind of teleportation spell, but it's not working. Dain bursts in and takes Sam away.
"They've already killed Peeper," Thelwyne whispered desperately. "I'll be next."
Yeah, these bad guys don't mess around alright. I wonder how they execute their prisoners, to be honest. Guillotine? Just stab them? A morbid thought, I know, but this is already a morbid book!
There's that word again. Animus.
And we leave you off with this cliffhanger. How will Sam escape her execution? You'll find out when the next entry goes up!
