Right, gray was Gerk.
“There are four clans on Spurn,” I yelled to Josian, but my explanation was cut off when I had to dodge a series of lightning-fast punches directed at me from a team of Baroons.
When one ducked in from the front, another came at my back. I elbowed the first one in the face, cracking his nose. A dark purple blood sprayed around violently. The other screamed in anger, diving onto my shoulders. I spun around fast enough that my own head spun, before running backwards and slamming into one of those tall trees. The groan from behind me indicated pain, but the weight didn’t shift.
Josian was charging in my direction with at least twelve Spurns hanging off him. Suddenly, the weight on my back lifted. And I was free.
“What are they? Evil little munchkins?” Josian worked to dislodge all the Spurn barnacles he’d gathered.
They were so small and light compared to us that he could easily throw them a distance down the beach.
And for the first time we were alone, far enough from the main foray that we had a moment to prepare for the next onslaught.
“So there are four clans,” I continued. “Blue is Baroon, emerald is Earon, yellow is ...” It took a minute for their names to come to me. “… Yertle and gray is Gerk.” We were getting noticed again so I shuffled him behind a few trees. “None of them like the other clans. It’s a constant battle, and they have the cold nature of their dual status. Think fish-people.”
Josian looked like he was going to roll his eyes, but refrained. Like all Walkers, he carried a certain level of arrogance, especially to those less evolved species, amongst which I counted myself.
“Can you see your half-Walker anywhere?” He watched, quite interested in the bedlam on the beach.
I found the entire thing more comical than scary. At least half of the Spurns couldn’t even walk properly on land. At one point they were actually taking themselves out.
I shook my head. “Her name is Talina. And, no, she’s taller than almost all the Spurns: she should be easy to spot.”
And then, as I scanned the running, fighting, wrestling mob … was that someone biting? I shook my head before noticing a large congregation down on the sand, in nearly the exact spot where we’d faced the creature before.
I gasped as the scene came into a clear and horrifying focus.
I took off at a sprint.
I could hear Josian hollering after me, but I didn’t pause for a second; I wasn’t sure we had an extra second.
It took no time to traverse the distance, thanks to my Walker genes. The horrifying scene I’d noticed from so far away came into focus. The Spurns had Talina, Raror and Gladriel strung up in some kind of rope contraption, suspended over a wooden platform. They were dangled out in the ocean. In the distance, two of the creatures were drifting closer.
“We sacrifice these Spurns so that you will leave us alone. They are the bringers of evil, so they will be eliminated for the greater good,” a Baroon yelled, his lisping voice echoing over the ocean.
Where was Ladre? Wasn’t he the spokes-Spurn around here?
Creature one and two were moving in. They’d been about a hundred yards offshore, but were closing that distance fast.
“Oi!” I yelled as I came up behind the jeering Spurns. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Pink faces spun in my direction.
I was so angry that both my fists were in the air. “Let them go, you dirty, rotten ... fish-people.”
Opening my tight hands, I shot waves of light energy at them; this was one part of my powers that I could control.
But I also wasn’t very strong or skilled.
My little stream just blew them around the beach. I didn’t have to worry, though. I’d forgotten that Josian was right behind me, and he definitely knew what he was doing, blasting the group in all directions, throwing them far across the beachfront. Of course, this resulted in ropes being flung free, and the three captive Spurns plunging into the water.
“Dad, they’re tied up; they can’t swim,” I yelled as he reached my side.
We were at the edge of the water.
Could they drown if they were bound? Did they need movement for their gills to work? So many questions I didn’t have the answers to. I pointed out toward the fast-moving dragon-octopus animals.
“Those are the creatures, the ones Lucy and I think were modified by the Walker who kidnapped me.”
“If I keep the big bugs occupied, can you rescue the Spurns?” He was already stepping out into the water.
“No, Dad ... I can’t swim. Dad!”
But he wasn’t listening any longer. He’d decided he was a cowboy and was already astride creature one, holding on to two of its tentacles.