Neiko's Five Land Adventure (Neiko Adventure Saga Book #1)

Chapter 23

Neiko ran into her bedroom with her heart thumping. She dove over her bed and looked in the small aisle on the opposite side of her bed. Quickstrike was still lying there unconscious. Neiko gingerly picked him up and set him on the bed. She carefully placed his limp tail beside him. "Quickstrike, can you hear me? Oh, please don't be dead, Quickstrike," she said as she gently poked him.

Quickstrike groaned. "Ohh, Mom, it's Saturday, and I'm not ready to get up yet," he said doggedly, but his senses returned. "Am I dead? Neiko, what are you doing in heaven? Did he kill you too?" he asked as he rubbed his head.

"Of course not. You're alive, silly," she said, giggling.

"Ohh, I'm hurting so bad that I want to be dead. I can't believe I lived through that! He threw me really hard, and he was pretty mad. Wait a minute, how come he didn't take you?"

"Boy, that was a close call because my mom drove up when he was about to leave with me. I'm glad he didn't go ahead and carry me off anyway. He said he'll be back," Neiko said, rubbing the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand.

"Yeah, but did he say when?"

"No, he just said he would be coming back, and my mom won't be around to save me the next time. He said he'll be watching."

"Hmm, well, that in itself is a threat, and he will live up to it because he doesn't bluff. He won't leave till he has you, and is that all he said?" asked Quickstrike.

"No, he said something about he has been watching me."

"Yikes! Did you have any idea about that?"

"No, but there was three occasions when I had these terrible chills, and I felt that someone was watching me. Could that have been him?" asked Neiko.

"Yeah, maybe."

"Oh, I just realized something. He didn't say anything about us knowing about him being the 'you-know-what' or anything else we talked about, so I guess he doesn't know that we know."

"Phew! That's a relief, but we need to not talk about it because he could find out about us knowing; he won't be so generous in letting me live or letting you stay free long," said Quickstrike with a sigh of relief.

"You're right, and if we have to say anything about it, then we'll say DP or you-know-what, and he could be listening right now. Oh yeah, when those strange feelings came, they got worse when I said 'Ramses' or anything about him," she said urgently.

"Well, that explains it then; he was watching you at those times that you knew of, and there might have been times that he was there, but you didn't sense him," Quickstrike said affirmatively.

"We need to be ready for him when he makes his next attack because I need to win to stay here."

"Well, if you defeat him, he'll come back again and again. He doesn't give up till he gets what he's after," he warned, waving his claw.

"Well, I'll feel better if I have a plan of defense, and I need a battle plan. Does he have any weaknesses you know of like chinks in his armor or whatever?" Neiko asked.

"Well, he doesn't have any chinks in his armor or any known weaknesses," Quickstrike replied shrugging.

"Darn! Well, what about his eyes? That's the only part of him without armor on." Neiko picked up her broken stick. "What is his armor made of anyway? I mean, Crackedskull armor is the hardest there is, and I've hit plenty of them in armor, and it didn't break. This was my favorite stick! I mean, look at it!" Neiko groaned. "I'll lose a lot of good sticks fighting him!"