The First Timekeepers...

Here’s a Halloween treat for my readers, straight out of the pages of Legend of the Timekeepers guaranteed to chill you to the bone:

 “W-Where are we?” She-Aba asked, crawling out of the plant.

“I-I’m not sure,” Lilith replied. Her nose flared. It smelled fresh, almost pure to her.

“Well, we’re not in the desert anymore,” Tau said, wiggling and huffing. “Could you two get me down?”

She-Aba smirked. “What’s the magic word?”

Tau stopped squirming between the branches. “Huh? Magic word? How would I know, I’m not a magus!”

“You’re not very bright, either,” She-Aba replied. “What word would you use if you want something?”

Tau snorted. “Now!”

Lilith rolled her eyes. She passed the record keeper to She-Aba, then stuck her foot into the closest, deepest crevice in the tree. She pulled herself up, found another crevice, and pulled herself up again. She looked down at She-Aba. “Go cut a vine for Tau to use to climb down.”

“What’s a vine?” She-Aba asked, frowning.

Lilith sighed. “Over there, hanging from that tree. It looks like a rope. Haven’t you ever seen one?”

“No. I live in the desert. In fact, I find it quite warm and damp here. Not the best place for my hair.”

“There is no place for your hair, fire-head,” Tau said, indignantly.

She-Aba grunted. She opened her satchel, slid the record keeper in, and pulled out the metal clipper she used to cut and style hair. Lilith hid an emerging smile as she observed her friend. Walking proved to be anything but easy for She-Aba, as the forest floor appeared to want to swallow her shoes. Reaching for a long, strong vine that crept around the base of a tree, as if it were a snake, She-Aba sliced through it with ease, untangled it, and hobbled back to Lilith and Tau.

A rancorous scream permeated through the forest. She-Aba froze in her tracks, the vine she cut hanging lifeless in her hand. “W-What was that?”

Lilith’s whole body prickled. No, it can’t be, can it? That would be impossible.

She turned to scan the area. Tau wouldn’t quit wiggling. She reached for his arm and squeezed. “Stop that, I’m trying to—”

Another scream, this time closer, rolled out through the leaves.

“Oh, Poseidon, it is,” Lilith said, feeling her heart start to race. “Quick, She-Aba, throw up the vine and go hide! Now!”

“What’s going on, Lilith?” Tau asked. “Why do you sound so frightened?”

Lilith looked around again. “Because a wyvern is hunting us.”

“A…what?” She-Aba asked.

“A wyvern. It looks like a huge snake with wings, feet like a hawk’s, and a tail like a white crawler.”

She-Aba huffed. “Excuse, me, Miss Bossy, but I think I proved that I can handle a snake just fine.”

“For once would you just do as you’re told, fire-head,” Tau said. “Throw up the vine!”

“You mean this vine, Tau?” She-Aba swung it in her hand.

“She-Aba, you don’t understand, wyverns aren’t like cobras,” Lilith explained. “You’ve never seen one before, so you have no idea what they’re capable of.”

“So enlighten me, then. How do you know so much about these snake-like creatures?”

Lilith scanned the area one more time, before she said, “They’re native to only one place on earth.”

“And where’s that?” Tau asked, grunting, as he gripped the tree branch.

Lilith licked her dry lips, and said, “Atlantis.”