Little Orphan Anvil: The Complete Trilogy by Joseph Beekman (best contemporary novels .TXT) 📕

low upon the raft.” She then looked toWill and Tinspar. “And you two—cover anything thatis made of iron and metal with blankets or burlap. I amnot going to take any chances—those witches may havedetected our presence…”

Tinspar’s large eyes lit up with concern. “Youmean that lightning is the same lightning as that ofthose tentacles from the witch-lady monster?”

Aleeria nodded. “Yes, it sure is! It’s the samedeadly lightning that connects all the way to the witchherself!”

Without another word, everyone scrambled aboutthe raft, covering anything that remotely resembled ironor metal of any sort. Tabitha and the boys quicklydived for the crates, laying low next to them; theirbodies shivered with fear. Tinspar made sure the ironbladed pole was firmly secure and well hidden, whileWill was covering Anvil with an old burlap tarp. Therobot bleeped anxiously, as it was now blinded with thecovering.

“Now don’t you worry, my old friend!” Will saidas he patted Anvil’s dome-top. “We’re gonna driftthrough this night unseen and unheard, without somuch as a whistle or a word!”

Anvil tweeted a muffled reply.

As blackened clouds mushroomed throughout thesky, Aleeria quickly flew to the back of the raft, hovering over the water. She fell into a spell-like trance, hereyes fogging over as she lowered her ghostly hands tothe rushing river.

The others watched her from beneath theirhooded cloaks—they could only guess at what shewould be attempting to do. Thunder boomed andcracked across the sky, bringing with it a heavydownpour of rain, and lightning that darted in andaround the embankments of the river. Some of theelectric bolts came very near to striking the raft.

Suddenly the raft began to lift upwards from theriver. It creaked and groaned as it moved higher, slowlypassing just above the surface of the water.

Will crawled to the center of the raft, afraid hemight be knocked over and into the river. The threeteens stared in shock, wondering what was happeningto their raft.

A few moments later, they saw Aleeria floatingtowards them along the top of the raft. Her eyes wereopen wide, and had a hollowed look to them; herghostly form seemed to have lost much of its shimmering blue glow.

And then what they saw next was truly a sight tobehold: a mammoth, worm-like creature was emergingfrom the depths of the river, lifting the raft upwards onits back! The creature was moving through the passageof the river with amazing speed, gliding just inches offthe surface of the water. Its form appeared to extend forsome distance behind the raft, and its skin had a starpatterned, night-sky appearance that covered its slightlyrounded body.

“Stay still and remain low!” Aleeria whisperedloudly to everyone as a few bolts of lightning shot overthe raft. The electricity from the lightning sent wavesof energy across the creature’s body; it’s skin lit up in apurplish glow.

“Oh, and don’t worry! This creature is an ancientriver centipede that has dwelled within these parts ofthe realm for thousands of years—it’s prone to attractlightning to itself as a source of energy!”

“You made this—this thing surface from out ofthis river?” Haley asked a bit fitfully as he gazed at thewild glow of the creature.

Aleeria nodded; she looked spiritually drained.“Something like that! I wasn’t sure if I could pull itoff…but it seems my own sorcery has now been spentfor awhile.” She let out a heavy sigh, watching thecreature move with great haste through the narrowriver.

“Wow! That is really something!” Jonathonremarked, astounded by the sorceress spirit and herpowers.

“All I did, really, was summon this centipedecreature from the depths of the river, letting it know wemeant no harm and we’re in need of assistance, fast!”

She gazed back to the distant sky beyond thehills. Flashes of lightning illuminated the dark vaportrail of the witch lingering in the stormy sky.

“It was either seek the help of this fabled andhumble creature, or be fried by those lightning bolts.”

They all shuddered at the thought of such aterrible fate.

“Anyways,” she continued, “I knew of such acreature from my earliest days, when I was but a childliving in the Land of Stars. In fact, now that my spirit isfree of the body I once had, I can now see and feel thepresence of many things I had only heard about when Ihad existed in my former life!”

“What do you mean when you said it can keep ussafe from all that lightning?” Haley shouted loudly as aclap of thunder cracked through the air.

Aleeria looked past the front of the raft to thecreature’s hammer-like head.

“The lightning, or any type of static-chargedstorms, will give speed to it. Thankfully, any lightningthat comes close to us is absorbed by the creature’s ownbody—not ours!” She offered a smile of courage toHaley and the others.

“Well, I’ll be!” Tinspar shouted. “Now I havereally seen some far-out magic!” He stood up, hisstick-like legs wobbling about as the creature swayedback and forth in its speedy travel.

“Tinspar—be careful!” Aleeria cautioned. “Iwanted everyone to lay low on this raft for a reason!”

Tinspar moved to the front of the raft.

“I’ll be quite safe and fine, my dear!” he shouted,staggering along the wooden planks. “Just want tocatch a glimpse of this ancient centipede up close! It’snot everyday one gets a chance to see something suchas this!”

The sorceress whirled her way over to him just asthe creature swerved its long body around a corner ofthe river’s passage. The sudden movement causedTinspar to lose his balance and fall; he disappeared overthe edge of the raft.

“Tinspar!” Aleeria cried out, zipping over theside of the raft.

To her surprised relief, she saw that Tinspar wasdangling from one of the centipede’s many legs! Theblades from his iron-bladed pole had snagged upon aleg of the centipede, saving him from being lost to theriver.

She swooshed herself down to him, seeing thatthe lower half of his body was being dragged throughthe water. He just stared in shock at the sorceress.

She shook her head, clearly upset with him; herghostly, red hair blazed brightly. “You crazy fool!”

“I’m really sorry,” he whimpered, his eyesflashing a rusted amber color. “Please…just get thatrobot over here to