Beady eyes upon Queen Bee's face met Sia's with nothing more than a hollow stare. On one hand, it was comforting to know that her first impression upon the spider brought neither excitement, fear, nor anger to the Queen Bee's mind. On the other hand, and many other hands for the Queen, the blank expression kept hidden all the more predictable motives which Sia could predict. If it weren't for Ali'zarin's hissing breath flicking across his teeth and the occasional guttural click to accentuate particular words, Sia figured Mizim and her would have been long dead. So they assumed. It was bad enough she just discovered Ali'zarin was an Arcanist. And yet here she is, relying on that very same being to save her from the dire situation.
But even with Ali'zarin's silver tongue couldn't contain the Queen Bee's curiosity as she stepped past him and to Sia. Mizim reacted by gripping his wand tighter, raising it just above his waist in a warning stance. And Sia too contemplated copying the idea as the Queen Bee's bee and spider warriors surrounded them.
"Ali'zarin," Sia called weakly, the Arcanist turning to recognize his name. He waved. "A little help here?"
"Tfhsphs ggnl tnrffd kps mt yrv mlbrp f tb lttl," Ali'zarin responded as his body began to melt before them. To Sia's absolute horror, his body became a pile of goo then slowly moulded itself up until he became a snake. His little purple tongue flickered in and out of his mouth as he rolled across the ground. Slithering was far from the front of his mind.
"Is this part of his grand scheme to escape the underworld?" Mizim asked. "Or did doth we payeth 300 leis for nay reasoneth?"
Sia shrugged. "Considering we have a giant spider named the Queen Bee, our only ticket out of the underworld just turned into a snake, and we're running around with wands and some magical explosive cards, 300 Leis is pretty cheap for an adventure."
"I agree," said the Queen Bee, waving one of her plastic legs for her army to back off.
"Marry! Thee speaketh english?!"
"Yes, I just don't like speaking it because I sound more intimidating in my native language. But no matter. Ali'zarin told me you want my nectar to escape the underworld?" Queen Bee asked. She flopped her giant spider body onto the ground, legs unfurling. "Ali'zarin, kcb m hctrcs nd rd b." And Ali'zarin rolled up to Queen Bee's back. It suddenly occurred to him he could slither as he wiggled back and forth along the thorax.
"That's the short answer," Sia admitted. "The long one is that we have to get back to Earth because without our wands, the evil Fish Kingdom will take over Earth. Your Nectar will save hundreds of thousands of lives just with one small pinch.
"And why not let the Fish Kingdom take over? The more animals on the planet, the better."
"If the Fish Kingdom takes over, not only will humanity die out, but all the animals upon the earth will too." Queen Bee looked unconvinced, leading Sia to continue speaking. "All we need is Nectar and Ali'zarin to lead us out of the underworld and we'll be able to save the world."
"Doesn't seem that bad. But alright." Queen Bee reached to her back and plucked Ali'zarin off, dropping him before the travellers. "Dlrwrdn ht pcs t wh mht llt. Y." She grabbed one of her bees from her army and held him out to Ali'zarin. The Arcanist, now snake, stuck out his proboscis-like tongue and wrapped it around the bee, using its stinger to draw into the dirt at the bottom of the throne.
Yok artık! Arının iğnesiyle yazı yazabilir miyiz?
Mizim knelt down and held his wand out. "Lux," he said, the tip of the wand glowing, then lighting on fire, then catching the entire wand on fire so he could see the message better. "Oh me, the gods! Ali'zarin hath writ in a tongue I am unfamiliar with!"
"Maybe Queen Bee knows?" Despite her attempted enthusiasm, Sia's weariness gave away her more apathetic side to the ordeal. The hardest part about this adventure hadn't been escaping the dungeons and dragons game, it was waiting for their snake friend to write in an understandable format.
As for Queen Bee, she rolled her eyes magically despite having no sockets to do so. "He's writing love letters to himself."
Eğer gitmek istiyorsan, özel ritüel ilahisini söylemen gerek.
"You have to say a ritual," the Queen Bee said, now being pampered by spiders from her army.
The little bee squealed as Ali'zan kept writing with it.
YOU ARE READING
Lost in Translation: A Collaborative Story
RandomA group of writers decided to write a blind collaboration. This is what happened.
