Algernon Black

(Chapter 2) A Castle of Mud and Poop

"Quiet now. Be very quiet." The tall lanky boy said as the only one making any noise.

"I mean it, not a single sound," He kept muttering to himself. The young girl by his side would have laughed at the irony, well if she didn't have to be quiet.

"Oh, this is splendid," Jared said with so much excitement his little sister couldn't help a smile of her own. "After days of searching the Wugernice is within our sights. Isn't he just the most beautiful magolarian bufonidae you've ever seen?"

"Yes?" The girl replied though her forehead rumpled in questionable enthusiasm. What Lucy saw was a lumpy frog with bark horns that would move up and down its fat slimy face to stare at them from his throne of mud and poop.

"Ok, now to make our move." Jared suddenly turned to her. "Lucy, grab me the ultra-luminescent flies."

"Oh no, I think we only packed the mildly luminescent ones," Lucy said jokingly though her brother couldn't detect her playful sarcasm through his concentration.

"In the name of the last good king." Jared cursed in the politest fashion possible.

Lucy silently laughed at the way he made sure to use the respectable way to address the long-dead monarch and handed over the buzzing insects.

Jared placed the jar down and hovered his hand over the metal top. The lid rose to meet his palm as the flies flew out before using his other hand to direct the insects toward the lumpy creature.

The horns on the frog started to frantically change as they pointed to the food in front of them and from the brown horns shot two discolored sticky yellow tongues. Jared waited for the pair of tongues to attach to one of the flies before yanking his hand back. The tongues that had latched onto the bugs weren't able to pull away as Jared possessed the flies with his magic and fought against them.

"Lucy," Jared called, "Take over for me."

Lucy knelt closer and concentrated on controlling the flies with the magic her brother had taught her. As soon as Jared let go of his hold on the flies, the tongues gained some ground, but Lucy was quick and potent enough with her skills to tug back.

Jared smiled at his sister's success as he searched his bag for a pair of pliers. "I would say you've all but mastered that one."

Lucy grinned but kept her focus on the tongues.

With the pliers in hand, Jared picked the glass jar off the ground and stepped into the swamp. He was halfway up to his knees in thick brown goo and Lucy hoped that it was mostly mud, but by the smell, doubted it. Jared crossed to the frog and got to quick work yanking off the extra tongues. Lucy released her control over the flies and the newly separated tongues retreated into their hardened homes. Jared dropped them into his jar where they vibrated frantically. With the horns safely packed away, her brother nodded to the toad as if to dismiss him. The unfazed king of the swamp glared deadpan before it let out a single groggy croak and hopped away.

"You are welcome, sir!" Jared held up the jar triumphantly, and waved goodbye to their slimy friend.

"Zagabots," Jared said, as he walked back over to Lucy and handed her the jar. "Parasites that cling to the faces of their hosts, eating all their food sources and slowly starving them to death."

Lucy grabbed the jar as Jared tried to free himself from the swamp. "Interesting." She looked over the insects to see the tongues made a constant ringing as their bodies hit against the glass.

"However, they are unparalleled when it comes to detecting feelings of malice or harm," Jared finally got out of the mud by using all of his upper body strength to push against the ground. "That's why we had to be so careful with our approach." He sat back while breathing ruggedly from the effort. "Some people use them to tell their friends from enemies, but often don't like what they find out." He outstretched his hands, asking for the parasites back.

Lucy handed over the jar. The rumbling didn't increase but it didn't slow down either."Is that so."