Chapter 6 Churches of Doom

After a couple hours of walking, we stopped and got a drink of water in the town of Shallabendamon. We headed back to the Southern direction with a bit of an East direction too. After a few minutes, we got to the town of Namagadia.

“Here we are,” I said as I looked around.

I saw mules and donkeys everywhere. I walked forward, and they all just stared at us.

“Smaller than I thought. Let’s get busy finding that 3rd Jewel.” Flicka said as she looked around.

She saw something glitter above us on a tower or an old cross. She looked up and smiled.

“What are you smiling about, Flicka?” I asked her as I looked at what she was looking at.

“I’m looking at the Jewel up there. The only way to get it is to climb into the tower and fly up to grab it.” Flicka says with a smile.

“Oh. Well, what happens if you just fly up there and get it?” I asked her.

“Who asked that silly question?” A strange, airy voice asked.

We looked around and couldn’t find it.

“Show yourself!!” I yelled as I looked around.

“’Tis only I, Dear traveler.” The strange, airy voice says as it appears.

Flicka and I look at the church and saw a Velociraptor ghost.

“Oh, hello. Who are you?” Flicka asks as she walks toward him.

“Oh, me? I’m but just a mere old ghost from when this church was first built and that there Jewel was mined here in town by me. ’Tis now a memory.” He says.

“No. What is your name? Why are you here with us?” I asked as I got more impatient.

“Ah, yes. Me name is Thistle Whistle Whittler. ‘Tis my friends call me Thistle. What ‘tis two pretty, young fillies be doing out here? What ’tis y’all names?” Thistle asked with a ghostly grin.

“Oh, umm. We are out here for that Jewel up there. My name is Flicka and her name is Vizzie.” Flicka says with a smile.

I kept glaring at Thistle. I didn’t know if I wanted to trust him or not, either way, I was getting that Jewel.

“Aye. ’Tis must be careful getting that there Jewel. ’Tis lost me life getting it.” Thistle says.

“How do we get it down?” I ask kindly.

“’Tis must be patient until the right time.” Thistle says as he looked at me.

“When will that be?” Flicka asks.

“Aye?” He asks, very confused.

“The right time to get it?” Flicka asks him.

“Aye, ’tis will be time in about a few hours. When the sun touches it with a single ray of sun, ’tis the right time.” He says as he disappears.

“Wait!!” I yelled. Thistle appears again.

“’Tis youngin, what do you need?” He asked me.

“I was wondering about the Jewel.” I said calmly.

“’Tis ask away, kiddo.” He says as he sits down.

“What do you mean by it was mined by you in this town?” I asked.

“Ah, ’tis a long story youngins. Want to hear the long or short version of the story?” He asked us.

“The long story please.” Flicka and I said calmly together as we sat down.

“Well, ’tis was just a hatchling, ’Tis used to whittle anything and everything. It didn’t matter what it was, sticks or logs. ’Tis always whittled and whistled. ’Tis started my own business when I was only 14 years old. I ate Thistle weeds instead of meat. My parents and my other siblings thought I was stupid. ’Tis was a weird child all the way up to an adult. I was starting to make my own money by 14. After that, I was making probably $300-$400 a week. Parents kicked me out and I stayed at the shop.” He says.

“Hold on a minute. You ate Thistle Weed?” Flicka asks.

“Yeah, now hush. Let me tell the story. I made money like crazy but when I was, oh, 30 years old, my business started to decline. I wasn’t happy but when I was 35, my shop went out of business. I was sad. There was miners that were needed. ’Tis took the job of a miner and mined for years and years.” He says.

“Wait, how many years is years and years?” I asked him.

“Oh, 20-30 years. I worked in that mine digging for coal, iron, gold and anything else mineable. I came across the Bloodstone. I dug it out and it was, eh, 3 inches in diameter and it was flat. I looked around and stuck it in my bag. I headed out of the mine and motioned the boss over. He came over and I opened my bag. He considered the bag and dismissed me. I left and headed to the church. I entered the church and handed the priest the bloodstone. He looked at me and thanked me. He set it on the piano and asked if I wanted recognition and I said yes.” He says.

“Was the priest a dinosaur like you?” I asked him, real curious.

“No. He was a human with a wolf tail and wolf ears. He smiled and picked the stone up. He headed up a set of stairs. He disappeared and came back a few minutes later. ’Tis thanked me again and said that the Bloodstone finished the church, perfectly. ‘Tis went to leave and someone, in a black cloak, shoved me back in and said to turn around and get on my knees. I said ‘tis don’t have any knees. I can sit, lay and stand. That ’tis all I can do. He growled and put the gun to the back of my head and told me to sit down on the bench. ‘Tis did so, but the dude thought the priest had the stone and demanded it to give it to him. I said that the stone disappeared, and the priest didn’t have it anymore. The dude didn’t think ‘tis was funny. He went to shoot me but ’tis bullet bounced off my skin and hit in the wall. I noticed his tail was a wolf tail. I grabbed it and he looked at me. I let go and he took his hood off. ‘Tis noticed he was an ole frien’ of mine from years ago.” Thistle says as he looks downward.

“What did he look like? What was his name?” I asked him.

“His name was Gray Wolfendor. ’Tis known as a Poisonous Wolfdoring. He wasn’t very nice to anyone. He’ll be back soon. ’Tis knows I’m dead. He’ll be back and will take that stone for himself.” Thistle says as he looks around.

“What’s wrong, Thistle?” Flicka asked him as she looks at him concerned.

“Watch for a man with a gray tail and a black cloak on. He is very dangerous.” Thistle says as he disappears. The sun started to rise.

“I guess we will have to wait to get the Jewel.” Flicka said as I looked around for anything suspicious.

I saw something move behind a tree. I started walking toward the tree and kept looking toward the tree. I kept walking slowly toward it as it moved again. The sun started to rise as I got closer to the tree.

“Come on, Vizzie!! We need to get the Jewel before he does!!” Flicka yells at me. I turned around and ran back to Flicka.

“Let’s go, before I try to figure out what’s watching us.” I said as I walked toward the church.

“Wait!! I wouldn’t listen to that ghost if I were you.” A strange voice says.

“Why do you say that?” I asked the strange voice as I listened for anything it does. I stayed facing the church.

“What are you doing Vizzie?” Flicka asks me.

“Just, trust me. I know what I’m doing.” I said quietly.

“Don’t trust the ghost because he’s a liar and he didn’t mine that jewel.” The strange voice says.

“Show yourself and we’ll talk about it face to face.” I said. “No. Trust me and what I say.” The strange voice says.

“Uh, no. I only trust if I can see you.” I said as I started walking toward the church.

“Stop!! Don’t touch that Jewel!!” The strange voice snarls.

“No. I’m not stopping until I get it.” I said as I kept walking. Flicka followed me. We got to the door of the church and the door opened on its own.

“No!! He hasn’t told you anything about the church!” The voice snarls. I stop and turn to look at them. “I…I’ll show myself.” The voice says as she walks out from behind the tree.

“Hello, who might you be?” Flicka asks as she turns and looks at her.

“M…my name is Landanora. Thistle is a friend of mine that likes to lie to y’all youngins.” She says.

“I do not lie, Landanora!” Thistle growls as he appears.

“Do too!! You l…lied to me!!” Landanora snarls. “I do not lie!! ’Tis only tell the truth!!” He growls as he flies around her.

“N…no!! You are a b…big liar!!” Landanora growls.

Flicka and I turned around to head into the church. We walked in and the doors shut behind us. We looked around and the hallway lit up with candle lights.

“Hmm. Kinda weird how those lit up.” I said as I walked forward.

“Yeah, I mean. This is a weird church.” Flicka agreed. Then, we heard laughing.

“Who’s there?” I ask boldly.

“It is only me! Normajoke the Hyena Preacher!” He laughs as he stays hidden.

“Show yourself, Norma… whatever your name is!!” I yelled as I walked forward down the hall. Flicka walked down the hall beside me.

“I see him, Vizzie. He’s in the room up ahead.” Flicka says as she looks ahead.

“How’d you know that, Flicka, daughter of Flash and heir to the throne?” He asks as he cackles.

“What? Wait a minute, I’m confused. Who is Flash and heir to what throne?” Flicka asks as we entered a huge Cathedral.

“Flash, the Lightning Dragon King. Never mind all that!! Why are two young fillies doing out here in a church?” He asks as he starts cackling again.

“Stop cackling or whatever you’re doing!! Why are you here?” I snapped back at him.

“Oh, sweetie. I am the preacher here and no one is to get the stone!” He growls with a smile.

“A hyena? A preacher? No way!!” Flicka said as she started laughing.

“No!! No laughing!! No!!” He screams as he lays down and covers his ears with his paws.

Flicka and I took the chance and ran up a set of stairs.

“There it is!” Flicka yelled as we got to the top of the tower. Flicka went to grab it.

“Wait!! Remember what Thistle said, wait until the right time to grab it.” I reminded Flicka.

“Oh, yeah.” Flicka said as she backed up a little bit.

The light from the rising sun touched the bloodstone and I grabbed it. I grabbed the wooden box and set it next to the Amethyst.

“Alright, that’s 3 of 12 Jewels. Let’s get going before that Hyena gets up here and sees us.” I said as I put the wooden box in my bag.

Flicka nodded in agreement and headed down the stairs. We passed the Hyena halfway down the stairs. He just glared at us as we headed down the stairs. We got to the bottom of the stairs, we hear “NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!” he screamed.

We ran out of the church and hid behind a tree. Normajoke screamed and we watched the roof of the church lift and break as Normajoke broke through as he grew bigger and bigger. He started cackling. He looked around and grabbed the tree that we were hiding behind. He pulled it out of the ground and growled.

“Give it back!!” He snarls as he swipes at us.

We jumped up and ran as far as we could away from the church. He chased us to the edge of Slamagodonnia. We ran into town and he stopped. Normajoke growled and turned back around. He left away from the edge of the town. We fell to the ground as we breathed hard. The residents of the town came out slowly and looked at us.

“Whew!! That was close.” Flicka said as she stood up and looked around.

“Yeah, that was way to close.” I said as I stood up.

We started to hear whispering and mumbling as we only caught certain words. We definitely heard this sentence clearly.

“Who are they and why are they here?” A strange crackly voice said.

“I am Flicka, and this is Vizzie. We are Prophecy Mares who are to defeat him. We are in search of the 12 Jewels. We need help in finding the Sapphire Jewel. Will you help us, dear town?” Flicka says as she looks around. They continued to whisper.

“The Jewel you seek, is not that meek. When is shines, it does not whine. Be careful of the owner of the church with it, HE is dangerous and has many a wit.” The crackly voice said as we tried to locate the voice.

“Ok. Can you tell us where to find this church?” I asked as I smiled.

“The church is next to where you came in and only believers can see it. HE is dangerous once you enter.” The crackly voice said.

“Thank you so much.” I said.

“Wait a minute. Believe in what exactly?” Flicka asked as she looked at me.

“Believe in our savior is dead and never will return to the town to cleanse us of our sins.” The crackly voice said as it stayed hidden.

“Thank you once again. Come on, Flicka. Let’s go get that Jewel.” I said as I headed back you the edge of the town.

Flicka followed me to the edge of town. We saw where the building would be and said together.

“We don’t believe our savior will be back to cleanse us of our sins.” We said at the same time.

A building rose up from the ground and we entered. It went dark, and I looked around with disbelief.

“Where’s the owner?” I asked as we looked around.

“I am here at the front if you need me.” A gruff voice says.

“Please, sir. Come over here so we can see you.” Flicka said kindly.

“Fine.” He says as he disappears within a cloud of black magic.

He appears in front of us. We saw that he was a Minotaur. He stood about 8 foot tall.

“Sir, we need the Sapphire Jewel from here. We are the…” Flicka was cut off short as he growled and put a finger to her lips.

“I’m only going to say this once. That Jewel stays here with me or you will get hurt.” He growls.

“Oh. That sounds like a challenge to me, sir. We need that jewel to defeat Him.” I said with a smile. He stares at us surprised as I grab the wooden box I was given.

“Okay. Here.” He says as he took his necklace off and took the Sapphire Jewel to Flicka.

Flicka grabbed it and put it in the wooden box as I opened it. I put it away.

“Thank you, sir. We will return them to you as soon as we defeat him.” I said with a gentle smile.

“Go on and save all from his grasp.” He says as the light came through the windows. We walked out, and the building disappeared like it wasn’t even there.

“Alright!!! Hip, hip!! Hurray!!” Everyone cheered.

“What do you mean by that?” Flicka asked as she stomped her left hoof and lightning struck the ground next to her. Everyone went silent and ran.

“Thanks, Flicka!” I said sarcastically.

“Sorry. I got startled and asked a simple question.” Flicka explained.

“It’s alright. We need to get going on our way, anyways. We have 4 of the 12 Jewels we need. We need to get the 5th Jewel, Agate.” I said as I started walking toward a meadow near the town.

Flicka followed me. We started eating and after a few bites, I was good to go. Flicka ate more and then she stopped. She was full and walked up to me.

“Let’s get going before he shows up. So, we started walking toward the town of Salamandera.