Streaks of Purple Saga Volume One - Heather Ray (phonics reader .txt) 📗

and can absorb a great deal of damage unharmed. I call them Putty Patrollers."

Rita nodded. "Perfect. Make a few batches to aid Goldar in his conquest."

Finster bowed once again before leaving to his laboratory.

Rita then turned her attention to the goofy pair hovering by the throne. "You two will go with Goldar."

Squatt blinked. "But... but... we don't fight!"

Rita's eyebrow rose as Baboo nodded in agreement. "Then what do

you do?"

Squatt shrugged. "We were jesters in Lord Zedd's court..."

"...well, we tried to be," Baboo corrected.

Rita glowered at the pair. "Jesters? Why would Zedd send jesters with me?!"

Goldar snickered openly at the self-proclaimed queen's bewilderment.

"Fine," she grunted, pinching the bridge of her nose, "Go... clean up the dungeon. We'll need it in top shape in case Goldar does find any humans worth preserving."

Chapter Twelve

“Kazu? Kazu!” Sener shouted, jumping over a fallen tree. His head jerked at a hissing sound from above.

“Sh!” the hunter whispered from within a steady tree. He then beckoned the musician to join him.

Sener struggled up the broad tree, and planted himself beside Kazu. He peered in the direction Kazu was staring, and his jaw dropped.

Marching through the wood, razing the remaining forest before them, was a countelss army of gray shapes, their faces wrinkled like moist clay. They marched in uniform, in perfect synchrony.

“By the god…” Sener whispered.

“There is a gold creature with wings leading them,” Kazu noted. “He’s a few paces ahead.”

Kazu’s eyes narrowed at the large structure that had flattened a good quarter mile of the forest. “They must have come from the castle.

Sener watched the countless creatures pass. “It is most definitely an army.”

Kazu nodded, a smirk pulling at his narrow lips. “Then I shall face the army.”

Sener stared in bewilderment as Kazu leapt from the tree. Sener scrambled to catch up, and watched as Kazu pulled his spear from the earh he left it in.
“Are you possessed?!” Sener screeched, chasing after Kazu as he raced in the direction of Gateway City. “There are far more than a hundred gray soldiers, and their leader! What can you do against them?”

Kazu kept running. “They are headed for the city, and they move too quickly for us to overtake. However, if I challenge them, perhaps I can slow their progress enough for you to reach the city first, and alert everyone to the impending danger.”

Sener gasped as Kazu thrust the heavy weapon into his grasp. “But…I can’t leave you!”

“You can,” Kazu stated, “and if you encounter any troops, you can defend yourself with the spear.”

“But you…”

“I have my bow,” Kazu reminded him, pulling the weapon off his back, “as well as a dagger and my bare hands. I shall be fine.”

Sener watched helplessly as Kazu raced up a tree. He aimed carefully, launching three arrows at once. The three arrows struck the head of one soldier, causing it to crumble into ashes.

“Magic,” Sener whispered, before finally breaking into a run, “I must warn Gateway City!”

Chapter Thirteen

While the Putty Patrollers were not equipped with the ability to speak, they did generate a harsh, gurgling sound that Goldar found completely disgusting. In addition, they were made of clay, meaning they were soft, pliable, and easily dissolved.

He took a moment to pray to the Titan god of storms that it did not rain.

At least I have an infinity of soldiers,

Goldar assured himself, glancing back at his endless armada. Surely the Humans will simply run in fright...

Crimson eyes narrowed as something streaked from a tree just outside the razed ground the army trampled.

Whatever it was, it struck the army, increasing the gurgling sound.

In one deft motion, Goldar beat one wing, turning completely around. He sliced through the air, pulling himself above the tree in question.

Pointing his enormous broadsword at his target, a stream of gold flames fired from the tip. The flames climbed the tree at a devastating speed, forcing a sturdy form to fall from the branches.

Goldar's feral growl converted into a smirk as the short creature threw a hateful glare at him, before he pounced onto the army nearby, armed only with a short dagger about the length of Goldar's hand.

"Pitiful," Goldar grunted, watching from above. Surprisingly, the Human was not yet dead. He savagely defended himself, whirling around and striking off arms and legs of nearby Putties.

Goldar decided to study the warrior more carefully. The human's narrow eyes glinted with bloodlust, and his body, while frail compared to Goldar's, was toned through use. He also proved to be quite nimble on his feet, especially considering the lack of wings.

His neck was adorned with a chain of white teeth, and similar strings of animal skin decorated his body like trophies.

A hunter,

the Titan recognized. Likely a great hunter. But even the greatest of hunters can not survive against such odds.

Sure enough, the Human's swift, agile movements became slower and clumsier with time.

"Finish him," Goldar pronounced. With the death sentence delivered, the Titan turned, and in a mighty trust of his powerful wings he catapulted himself towards the city once again. The majority of the army followed, save for a handful of Putties who continued to beat their heavy arms against the Human.

Kazu was now disarmed, as his dagger disappeared within the body of one of the clay creatures. He had lost his bow in the fire of the tree, leaving him with only his bare hands.

Despite the rivulets of blood that forced him to close one eye, Kazu smiled viciously.

If Putty Patrollers were capable of exhibiting fear... they certainly would have.

"I am far from helpless, Creatures," Kazu spat, his voice deep and rumbling like a tiger growl, "I still have the advantage."

One mighty kick from a Putty, delivered with precise aim to the back of his knee, brought the mighty warrior to the ground.

"Stop!" a voice cried, distracted the Putties enough to turn away from their victim.
Sener dashed madly at the assembly, holding his spear toward the nearest Putty. The magical creation couldn't move in time, and only watched blankly as the razor tip plowed through its chest.

Sener blinked in surprise, releasing the spear in horror. The Putty stared at him with its hollow eyes as it pulled the weapon from its skin. The clay shifted to fill the hole as if it had never existed.

Sener gasped, stumbling away as several Putties followed him.

Kazu watched in stupefied horror as the impaled Putty rammed the spear into Sener's abdomen.

"No!" the hunter bellowed. He used his powerful body like a battering ram, plowing into the assembled Putties at once.

Kazu's teeth gnashed in blind fury as he carefully collected the quivering body of his friend. Ignoring the thick blood that flowed freely onto his own skin, he leaned Sener against his chest, and dashed back into the dense canopy of the remaining forest.

Part Two

Chapter One

With the last ounce of strength in his body, Zale managed to crawl to shore. Clinging to the prone form of his father, the determined young man stretched onto the surf. He panted heavily, blinking away the salt water that stung his eyes so he could make out the chaos before him.

Brave man that he was, Zale shivered with dread. Countless gray creatures marched through Gateway City, some wielding daggers and clubs that seemed to protrude from their very hands, others carrying torches and setting houses aflame at random.

“Gods forbid,” he rasped, “…not again.”

His heart stung at the madness that had overtaken the quiet city during his fishing trip. After their sailing boat capsized, it took the athletic swimmer a great deal of time to both orient himself, find his sunken father, and wade back to the distant shore.

The insanity was sickening.

Swallowing a desperate breath, Zale turned to his father, who lay utterly motionless on the sand beside him. Blood matted his thinning hair, gushing from a hidden wound and painting the sand, his skin and clothing an angry crimson.

The…the boat must have hit his head!

Zale realized, his heart sinking. His muscles ached, but he managed to heave Ich’ni’s body onto his back.