Day Twenty-Eight - The Unexpected Task

SpaceWizards
(Another SpaceWizards Action/Adventure Mystery)

Everything we do from the time we get up to the time we go to sleep is a task. Even while we are sleeping, that’s a task too. After all, we are doing it. It’s just not called that by most of us. But it is called that when it comes to most, if not all, Wizards, especially SpaceWizards. This team of SpaceWizards is one of them that do. The Unexpected Task didn’t happen very often to them. But it did happen. One of those times it happened to Pacill. Not only was it a big problem, but it was embarrassing too. During an escape through a tunnel of twists and turns, Pacill realized he had put down what they were there to find during a fight. When he realized that he and two others had to go back to get it while the other four protected them. This is his story.

“The Unexpected Task”

A Short Story

Remembered By

Pacill

     A large mountain opened area was where the SpaceWizards were. At one end of a jagged square circle was a thick stone pole that went from dirt floor to jagged ceiling. That pole had several heads that looked still alive sticking out of it. Their eyes were hollow, and their mouths were wide open. In one of those mouths, a SpaceGem stuck out filling it.

     Pacill stood next to that pole. He plucked the SpaceGem from its mouth. Then he quickly stepped to his side with his back to the pole as a Fire Ball shot past him to explode in the mountain wall right behind him. A few small pieces of that wall struck his side. What little pieces were left soared past him.

     Reaching down, Pacill picked up the SpaceGem he had dropped. Pacill looked at it from all angles. I got it. And it looks just fine.

     The sounds of a battle echoed throughout that mountain opened area. Explosions sounded every few seconds. That’s great, thought Mairon. I’m glad you got to it first. But we are a little busy right now to be thinking about that.

     Pacill looked up and saw a fierce battle going on in the mountain opened area. Fire Balls and electrical strings were flying everywhere. They were being fired by both sides. The other six SpaceWizards were spread out throughout that opened area. They were using pointed rocks sticking out of the ground to protect themselves. Unfortunately, most of the dead had rock protection too.

     Putting the SpaceGem in his clothing Pacill joined the battle. Four of the dead were running toward him. Two fired Fire Balls at him while the other two shot several electrical strings each at him. Pacill easily stopped that attack with some slapping. He countered-attacked with a Fire Ball of his own. It took out all four of them.

     Another group of the dead were right behind the first. They too fired Fire Balls and electrical at Pacill. Pacill easily took them out with slapping. Then the dead with a Fire Ball. There were two more groups that did the same thing. And Pacill took them out too.

     A few of the strings got past his defense. But he took out all the balls. The strings that struck him hit him all over his body. One every to the hidden SpaceGem. “That was a little too close.”

     Pacill opened his clothing and glanced down at the SpaceGem. He pulled it out with on hand while continuing his battle with his other hand. Every few seconds he glanced down at it at different angles. “It looks okay.”

     Stepping behind the head pole, Pacill noticed a small hole in the back of each head. Pacill placed the SpaceGem into one of those holes. “You should be safe there until this battle is over.”

     The sound of the fierce battle could still be heard as Pacill stepped out from behind the Head Pole to rejoin the battle. For about fifteen minutes it was pretty even between the SpaceWizards. They each had about fifty of the dead to deal with. Then one, two, or three at a time the dead started engaging Pacill.

     Do you need some help, Pacill? Angoria asked. It sure does look like you do.

     Pacill didn’t think about it for several seconds. He was too busy taking out another group of the dead. What do you think? Of course, I do. I’m very popular right now.

     The other six SpaceWizards slowly started moving in Pacill’s direction. They took out their battler’s first. Then they started taking out the backs of the dead attacking Pacill. Within about ten minutes some of the dead turned and started taking on the other six SpaceWizards. But most of them were still being killed by Pacill. It had taken about another ten minutes of fierce battling on both sides before that battle was over.

=====-=====-=====-=====-=====-=====

     “That was weird, even for Horrald. Why were most of the dead trying to kill me?”

     Pacill asked as he and his fellow SpaceWizards headed for one of the mountain tunnels. “I know that Horrald hates me. But I thought he hated all of us about the same.”

     “I don’t think they were trying to kill you more than us,” said Borrele. “It looked to me that they were attacking that Head Pole more than you.”

     Stavon looked at Pacill, then at Borrele. “I noticed that too. But with all the attacking going on it could have been either one or both”

     “Why would the dead be trying to destroy this SpaceGem?” Pacill asked. “That doesn’t make any sense to me. Horrald has been collecting them, not destroying them.”

     “Maybe he has been destroying them too,” said Jacci. “We just didn’t notice it until now.”

     “I don’t really care why he wanted this one destroyed, or if there were any others. All I care about is if this one is safe,” said Mairon. “It is safe, isn’t it? The SpaceGem wasn’t destroyed during the battle, was it?”

     “It’s safe. I thought that it was damaged for a minute. But it wasn't.

     “That’s good,” said Mairon. “Now let’s get out of here. We can figure out see why Horrald wanted it destroyed later. The sooner we get that SpaceGem out of here the better.”

     The SpaceWizards walked in silence for several minutes as they headed for one of the mountain tunnels. Just before getting to it Mairon suddenly stopped. “This is the mountain tunnel we came in here from, isn’t it?”

     Mairon looked at each of the other SpaceWizards. It was Yena who answered him. “I don’t think it really matters as long as we get out of this mountain before any more of the dead show up.”

=====-=====-=====-=====-=====-=====

     Slowly walking down a long mountain tunnel, the other six SpaceWizards kept Pacill between them. Mairon walked in front of him while Stavon walked behind him. The four females were at his sides. “This is unnecessary. I don’t need protecting.”

     “We are protecting you,” said Mairon. “It’s the SpaceGem we are worried about.”

     Stavon, Yena, and Jacci kept glancing over their shoulders behind them. They did it in a way so that one of them was always looking behind them. But it was Mairon who suddenly stopped about halfway up that tunnel. “The dead are ahead of us.”

     “I think I just saw a couple too,” said Yena. “But I’m not sure since I only saw their heads for a second.”

     “Ours are out in the open.” Angoria stood in front of Jacci. And she was looking right at six of the dead crouching in the front of six others. Mairon and Borrele were staring at them too.

     “let’s do this. But only use electrical strings to do it. I know it will take us longer to save them. And it will be harder to do. But we don’t want this tunnel falling in on us.”

     A few seconds later Mairon continued. “I’m sure the dead will be using Fire Balls for the same reason we aren’t. So, we need to use the clapping spell.”

     Mairon looked at Angoria then Borrele. Then glanced behind them at Jacci and Yena. “I think the females should handle the clapping while Stavon and I will take care of the electrical strings. You females join in with your strings whenever you can.”

     “What about me?” Pacill asked. “I want to help too.”

     “I want you to stay between us,” said Mairon. “And get down as low as you can.”

     Pacill started to say something, but he only got out, “But I want,” before the dead started their attack. And they were firing Fire Balls at the SpaceWizards. Most of them were at the SpaceWizards. But a lot were at the tunnel walls. Angoria and Borrele took turns with their Clapping spells unless the Fire Ball was on their side. Yena and Jacci did the same thing.

     Stavon, Yena, and Jacci had turned around to face their attackers just as the fighting began. Yena and Jacci didn’t have too many opportunities to fight back. They were too busy clapping Fire Balls. Neither did Angoria and Borrele. But they did have a few times each to fight back. Most of the fighting Mairon and Stavon did. And they were saving them. But for everyone that they saved two more showed up to take their place.

     The dead against Stavon, Yena, and Jacci were using the exit from a side tunnel to protect themselves. Only their heads showed the SpaceWizards they were there. They only stepped out into when the fired a Fire Ball at them. Then they would quickly step back into the side tunnel. The dead did that for about fifteen minutes, then they suddenly stopped too.

     For the first fifteen minutes, the fighting was constant and fierce. Then suddenly the dead stopped firing Fire Balls and started firing electrical strings. It started with the group on Mairon's side. A few seconds the other end stopped too. They started only firing electrical strings.

     Like the Fire Balls, the SpaceWizards had no problems taking out the strings. At least most of them weren’t. But a few got through to them. One of those that did strike Borrele on her side, turning her sideways slightly. It wasn’t much of a gap between her and Pacill. But there was enough for another string to hit Pacill. Pacill opened his clothing. He gasped. “Oh, no.”

     “What’s wrong?” Mairon asked. “Did the SpaceGem get hit? Was it destroyed?”

     “It’s worse than that,” said Pacill after about a minute. “It isn’t there. I left it hidden in a Head Pole hole.”

=====-=====-=====-=====-=====-=====

     Pacill, Yena, and Angoria were running down the tunnels. Saving any of the dead that they came into contact with. And that was every few seconds one or more got saved. “I still can’t believe I did that. I’m surprised Mairon didn’t kill me when we discovered what I had done.”

     “It’s bad,” said Yena. “But it’s not that bad. At least you learned of your mistake until we got back to the surface, or worse our spaceship. If that had happened, then maybe he would have done it.”

     “Mairon still wouldn’t have killed you,” said Angoria. “We have all done something like this. If I got killed because of something like this, I would have been dead over thirty thousand years ago.”

     “I can’t stop thinking about it. How he took what I did.”

     “It’s not a problem, yet. At least it isn’t if the SpaceGem is still there,” Mairon had said. “But if the SpaceGem isn’t there, then it’s a big problem.”

     “You, Yena, and Angoria head back there. Most of the dead are in front of us. The rest of us will take care of them and then join you.”

     Pacill, Yena, and Angoria ran in silence for several minutes, saving about twenty-five more of the dead. It was Pacill who spoke first. “This would be a lot easier if we could teleport in here.”
“Even if we could, there’s no way Mairon would let us do that. There’s too much of a chance one or more of us would end up in a wall.” Yena was also having difficulty speaking.

     “Now that we know where it is we could have teleported back here,” said Pacill. “At the very least we could have teleported out of here. Maybe we couldn’t have because we don’t know this planet. But we do know where everything is on our ship.”

     “We probably would have if we could,” said Angoria. “But there’s something about these mountain tunnels that prevents us from doing that.”

     “Maybe it’s not the tunnels or the mountain,” said Yena. “It could be the SpaceGem. That would explain why Horrald wasn’t it destroyed.”

     “It can’t be the SpaceGem,” said Pacill. “We were using wizardry during the fight.”

     No one said anything for several more minutes. The just save another twenty or so of the dead as they continued running. It was Angoria who broke the silence. “Maybe it only works on spells.”

     “No, it can’t be that either. I don’t know about the rest of you,” said Pacill. “But I was using spells during that fight.”

     “It still could be that,” said Yena. “Maybe the SpaceGem doesn’t work on simple spells like slapping, punching, clapping, etc.”

     No one said anything else until they reached the opened area a few minutes later. By the time the others got there about fifteen minutes later Pacill had retrieved the SpaceGem and was looking at it from all angles. “It was still here, and it looks just fine. I’m sorry for all the problems that I have caused today.”

     “It’s okay. It isn’t all your fault, anyway. I wanted to look at it before we left here. But I wanted to get it out of here as quick as we could. If I had looked at it, we would have known you didn’t have it on you before we left.

=====-=====-=====-=====-=====-=====

     Once again, the SpaceWizards were headed out of those mountain tunnels. And they were walking in the same formation. But instead of Pacill being protected in the middle it was Stavon. Pacill walked behind him with Yena and Angoria on both sides of him. They were all facing forward too. No one was looking back every few seconds like the last time, either.

     Stavon patted his clothing every so often to feel the SpaceGem is still there. And each time he did it he would tell the others that, “It’s still there,” as they continued walking up those mountain tunnels.

     No one said anything for about twenty minutes. It was Jacci that broke the silence. “I’m sure that I just saw some of the dead up ahead of us. I thought we took out all of them.”

     “We did,” said Mairon. “Horrald must have sent more of them to destroy the SpaceGem.”

     A few seconds later Mairon continued. “We thought this might happen. Let’s go to plan B. I want to get back to the spaceship as quickly as we can. I’m hungry.”

     Pacill went up to stand beside Mairon. Borrele and Yena stood right behind them slightly to their left or right. Jacci and Angoria stood slightly to the left and right of Borrele and Yena. Stavon stood behind Pacill and Mairon. For about ten minutes they just stood there watching as more of the dead showed up. There was about twenty-five of them now at the side entrances to two side tunnels. And those were the ones they could see.

     “Okay let’s do this.” Mairon began a few seconds later. “Unlike the first fight in these tunnels, we don’t stand and fight. Like Pacill, Yena, and Angoria did on their way back to the opened area we fight while getting out of here. Saving anyone who gets in our way.”

     Just then the first five dead started firing electrical strings at the dead. “They must have been told not to use Fire Balls this time,” said Pacill. “Either that or they don’t want to take the chance of the tunnel falling in on them too.”

     The SpaceWizards started firing their own electrical strings, and they started running down that tunnel. They took out all the dead before they reached the end of that tunnel. But they stopped before moving on. Mairon and Pacill both looked down their side tunnels. There weren’t any of the dead on Pacill’s side. But there were a few on Mairon’s side. And they were getting bigger by the second.

     “We follow the dead,” said Mairon. “Wherever they are coming from, that’s our way out of here.”

     It took them another half an hour to get out of those mountain tunnels. And they saved about two hundred more of the dead as they ran out of there firing one electrical string after another at any of the dead that they encountered. Most of the dead got hit several times by the SpaceWizards. The SpaceWizards also got hit a lot too. all of them except for Stavon. But it didn’t stop them, or even slow them down, from continuing until they got out of those mountain tunnels. Once out Mairon mumbled something. A few seconds later they all disappeared.

Word Count = 2,711