The Fatal Conflict (GBS2G7) (Round 4: The Huntsman's Garden)

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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"What just happened?" Maxwell asked. Zach said nothing, and drifted closer to the box.

"She must be inside," he said, then turned to Maxwell. "After I disappear, grab the box and get to a safe place. I've got no idea what she's doing in there, but I doubt it's going to turn out well."

Before Maxwell could say anything, Zach touched the box and vanished. The child picked up the box and stared at it for a while.

"Well, this is boring," he said. "I wonder if I can find anyone else to play Twenty Questions with?"

***

Zom found himself dragging Kaja off to a side chamber, on his new master's orders. He really didn't like this new arrangement. Even with his strength, Kaja was heavy, mostly due to the apparatus on his back. After struggling for what seemed like ten minutes, he dropped Kaja onto a bed and then, once again following orders, started slowly walking back, locking the door on his way out.

When he returned, he saw that the children were all sitting down, save for the one who had marked him, who was standing on a stool behind a lectern. The scene reminded Zom of a classroom, but he suspected it was something far less benign.

"Oh, good! You're back. I was just about to ask Ymirhoggr to guide us to a new sacrifice." The boy picked up a piece of chalk from the lectern. "Stay there and watch, would you? That's a good servant."

Zom had little choice but to obey. About all he could do was make snide remarks, but that hardly seemed helpful under the circumstances. So instead, he watched quietly as the boy walked over to a chalkboard - where had they even gotten that? - and started chanting something strange.

As he chanted, a strange red aura appeared around his hand, seeming to guide it across the chalkboard. Slowly, he drew a crude image - a muscular man with an axe, leaping high in the air. An odd structure was near him - Zom didn't recognize it, but then, he hadn't exactly seen a lot of this world. Zach had done the scouting, and Zom had been unconscious when he was captured.

The red glow vanished from the boy's hand. He turned to his fellow children - perhaps students? - and smiled.

"Ymirhoggr has shown us the way. Come, my army! We shall claim our next sacrifice!" he shouted. "That means you, too, by the way," he added, pointing to Zom.
"I thought it might," the zombie sighed. He found himself following the children out, and wondered how exactly he was going to face Kargrek.

***

The first thing Zach noticed when he returned to the city was the street lamp sliced in two. Then the remains of a car. Then the leaking fire hydrant.

"Oh dear," he sighed. Before he could say anything else, however, he found Dr. Stassen running up to him.

"You've returned!" the doctor shouted. "And just in time. Some creature made of musical notes has been tearing through the city. Luron thought he recognized it, he's been chasing after it. Can you help?"

"Ah. Well. Er. I... that is..."

The train of thought Zach was trying to recapture was soon lost when he heard Luron shouting.

"She's making another pass! Everyone, out of the way!"

Zach leapt aside, and saw Symphonia rocketing through. She was moving quickly, and from what he could see, she was now not simply a cloud of musical notes, but a somewhat larger cloud of musical notes and debris.

"Help me out here, Zach!" Luron shouted as he ran past. "I don't know what's gotten into her, but she'll destroy the city at this rate!"

Zach sighed as he picked himself up. How did he get roped into these things?