GAYM -- A gay sci-fi fantasy continues
Preface: I kind of shelved this after Christmas as nobody seemed particularly interested and this year started off kind of crazy for my life. After a request to pick up the story and continue, I'm gonna try just that.
GAYM Part 08 The 2nd Battle
We didn't have much time to celebrate our first victory before Aahz and Brockhurst (Brock) arrived from their expedition to the market at Deville.
"I got nothing," Aaahz admitted sadly. "You wouldn't believe the prices!"
"Well, I got some special effect that might prove useful," Brock announced. "Flash powder abd ---" he dissappeared with a flash of light and a puff of smoke.
"Neat trick," said Andy. "Another invisibility cloak?"
"Couldn't afford a cloak," said Brock, reappearing, "besides, this offers more coverage, even if it is stiffer. It's a SHEET of invisibility."
"That could come in handy for ME," said Gus. I had a little trouble with the invisibility CLOAK in our first battle."
"You mean you already had a battle?" Aahz asked.
"They tried a sneak attack," said Ajax. "Your 'kid' here was brilliant, but I'm afraid the enemy knows about Gus and Berfert now."
"Not necessarily," Gus put in. "I was disguised as Skeeve at first, and they may think he disguised himself as me later and used his magic for the fire. I think they never saw Berfert, and they never saw me fly because I didn't need to."
"Well, you obviously won the first battle," said Aahz. "It won't be the last."
"So, what do we do now?" I asked.
"While we wait for them to make the next move, we look over Brock's special effects," Aahz explained.
I wanted to find out more about the flash powder.
"You set fire to it,:" Brock explained. "Toss a litle bag of it on the ground by your feet and light it. As you've seen, it burns quickly and gives you a screen of smoke during which you can disappear, or suddenly appear out of nowhere."
"The disappearing I can understand, but tell me more about this apperaring out of nowhere," I said.
"You can suddenly appear from behind an invisibility cloak, or an invisibility sheet. A really good magician can even disguise himself to look like the grass, I can manage a bush or tree myself, then suddenly appear."
"And the invisibility sheet?" I asked.
"It's sort of like one-way glass. If you're on the right side of it, you can see through, but people on the other side can't see you."
"Whoa, back up." said Aahz.
"It's like one-way glass," Brock began again.
"No, about the deceptions. I neber thoght of disguises as anything more than a way to look like the natives."
"All part of assassin training," explained Brock.
"Can it work the other way around?" asked Aahz. "Could the kid here make the trees look like troops?"
"I don't know," said Brock. "I've never tried that."
"Heads up!" yelld Ajax. "The Gremlin says there's some activity in the other camp. Looks like they're sending out a group to discuss the next battle."
Sure enough, a group of soldiers and officers was standing just about where Aahz and I had stood when we had wanted a war council.
"Should we go out there?" I asked Aahz.
"Let 'em sweat," said Aahz. "They kept us waiting, and they haven't played fair; besides, you need some practice with the flash powder and that invisibilty sheet -- unless you prefer the cloak."
After nearly an hour, Aahz and I stepped out of our grove of trees and walked down the hill and accross the meadow to where the soldiers stood waiting; Aahz once again pretending to be my servant, disguised as my former Earthling teacher, Garkin. For myself, I was hidden by the invisibility cloak I'd picked up from the Imp Assassin that had died killing Garkin. I had a few bags of the flash powder, so I could make a dramatic entrance (and/or retreat, with the D-hopper, if the need arose).
"You wish a metting?" Aahz asked a fellow that seemed to be the new leader.
"Where's your master?" the fellow replied.
"He's a magician. He sees and hears what his servant sees and hears."
"I wish to speak to him directly, commander to commander," said the officer.
"Very well," said Aahz. "Oh Skeeve, great master," (that was my cue to drop a bag of flash powder) "this infidel requests an audience with your greatness."
I reversed the invisibility cloak and simultaneously lit the flash powder. The results were spectacular. The soldiers drew back. To them, it loked as if I'd suddenly appeared out of thin air, materializing in a cloud of red smoke.
To me, it was immediately apparant that I'd not practiced enough, for I had set off the bay much too close, and the smoke nearly choked me. My attempts to not cough or show weakness resulted in my desires to hide myself from embarassment causing me to undergo several transformations -- Imp, Devo, Purrfect, and Giant.
"Steady, Master," Aahz cautioned. "Do not let your anger overcome your reason."
At least all this had the effect of knocking some of the swagger out of the opposition.
"Lord Skeeve. I, uh we, need to discuss certain matters with you," the opposing officer began.
"What happened to Claude?" I asked. "I was under the impression that he was in charge here."
"He WAS. Now's he's to be court-martialed for incompetence! He greatly underestimated your abilities. Rest assured that I, Antonio, will ot make the same mistake."
With that, he began to change shape, and color. I had only seen dinosaur bones, but what appeared before me met all my expectations of what a young T-Rex would look like.
"Very impressive," I said, as calmly as I could. "Appears you know something about magic, but what are you supposed to be?"
"Now THAT," Aahz informed me, "is a pervert."
"Hmm," said Antonio, changing back to a more humanoid form, "you seem strangely wise for an Idiot."
"I," Aahz began, but I waved a hand warningly. No sense in revealing that he was a demon. "I may be an Idiot, but I'm no fool," Aahz concluded.
"You're a fool if you try to stop me and this army," said Antonio.
"And you're a fool if you think I'm going to let you and Istvan continue to Earth," I said.
"Then you'd better stop us here," said Antonio.
"That's the idea," said Aahz.
"You're welcome to try. Shall we say a few hours after dawn, tomorrow?"
"We'll be here," said Aahz.
Back at our own camp, I discussed my worries. "Their new commander is going to be a challenge, and he sounds so confident. You think Istvan himself will come fight?"
"I don't know, kid," Aahz replied. "Clearly Antonio thinks he has some kind of ace up his sleeve. We'll have to keep our eyes open tonight and see if we can find out what."
Andy and Brock, being able to disguise themselves as a bush and a tree, respectively, were able to get close enough to the enemy during the night to bring back some startling news. A huge crate had arrived, apparantly teleported (perhaps by Istvan himself). Whatever was inside, the soldiers were keeping it under guard. Brock said that even with his invisibility cloak, the soldiers were so think about it that he was afraid he'd trip over one if he tried to get a closer look.
"Where's that Gremlin when we need him?" said Ajax. "Espionage and sabotage would be his cup of tea."
Gus spoke up. "I think I saw him when I went to check on Berfert, and on your Dragon, Skeeve. No telling where he is now."
"Well," said Aahz. "You should get some sleep, Skeeve. You're gonna need all the energy you can get for tomorrow. The rest of us will take watch in turns. One of us will wake you a few hours before dawn."
I was having a wonderful dream about a victory celebration involving terrific sex with Andy. I could even feel his touch and hear him calling my name.
"Skeeve, Skeeve! Wake up!" Andy was shaking me awake.
"What's the situation?" I asked.
"I think we're about to find out," said Andy.
I went to look. I could see Antonio deep in conversation with someone. While I couldn't see the stranger under his hooded cloak, his size reminded me of something.
"Looks like they got themselves a Giant, whatever else they may have," Andy observed.
"A Giant?" The guy I got Gleep, my dragon, from on Deville was a Giant. Now I think I know what's in that crate. Go get Gleep ready. We may have to fight fire with fire."
To be continued