Chapter 62 - The Ogre(2)

"We shouldn't have entered the portal ..." he said trembling. He took his wand out of his coat, looking like a lunatic to the left and to the right.
"Johnny, you're scaring me," the girl said. 'What happened?"
'Speak in a lower voice…"
The girl started to be scared too.
'Johnny?"
The boy took the girl's hand and pulled her after him into a large bush. Then he sighed loudly and said to the girl:
'The painting in the living room ... the deep Ancient Forest..."
Hearing the words, Elizabeth also remembered the room where a huge mountain appeared ... She saw many pictures, but she never saw this image so close to the mountain.
'But I don't remember this image ..."
'Have you ever been to the deep Ancient Forest?"
'No," the girl replied. 'Not even close ... then ..."
'Neither was I ... nor Miss Harmony. I don't think Professor Knudlac was there either. But now, here we are ... far from Elmbridge School."
'And what are we doing now?"
The frightened boy still managed to shrug. He didn't know what else he could do except sit and wait hidden in that bush, like a scared mouse hidden beneath the ground.
'We look forward to seeing Mr. Knudlac with the professors," he whispered. 'They will surely come after Abigail ... and after us. Until then, we are hiding."
The two understood they could only stay hidden and wait to hear familiar voices.
Elizabeth took Johnny's hand. She was scared. She remembered Mr. Knudlac said the ogre was very dangerous. And Silarg said it might be too late for Abigail. She didn't want to think about it. There were many other dangers in this area, so she felt helpless and almost panicked.
The thought that neither older students nor the professors went to these places, some of the most dangerous in the world, was even more terrifying.
A scream that could freeze water in the deadly heat of the desert, echoed in the air. It could only be…
'Abigail ...?" Elizabeth could barely pronounce her name.
'Yes. I think it was her..."
Again the same scream. But Elizabeth stood up this time.
'We need to help her."
Without saying anything, she came out from under the bush that hid them.
The boy gone crazy came out and started running after her.
'Elizabeth, stop."
He didn't have the courage to call her, to go and face the ogre with her, but he still followed the girl.
Eventually they managed to get to a small meadow. As soon as they got there they could smell a lovely but pungent scent. There were graceful flowers of all colours, all sizes, spreading in the air perfume of apple, lavender, even grapes, mixed with chrysanthemum, lilac, lily-of-the valley and rose.
A fairy-tale place where you didn't expect to meet a hateful creature the two kids saw at that time ... a monster that, judging by appearance, couldn't live in that piece of heaven.
'The ogre?"
'Yes."
The children saw the ogre trying to cook Alexander. This is probably why Abigail screamed. The boy was tied to a tree trunk that was sat on two other large trunks lying on the ground.
From time to time the ogre turned Alexander around, probably to cook him all over. The fire was controlled by the ogre, blowing hard in the hot ember beneath the boy, making the fire more and more powerful.
Still, to his luck, when the ogre was busy with something else, Alexander used the magic wand he had with him to put out the fire.
Even so, it was clear the boy felt very hot there, because he kept sweating. If you saw him, you could swear sweat flowing from him put out the fire, not the spells cast with his wand.
Abigail was locked in a cage. Probably ... his next meal, the kids thought. So there was nothing left for them to do but intervene.
"Go and untie Alexander," whispered Elizabeth to Johnny.
The boy looked at her. He didn't feel able to do it, even though he saw that Alexander needed help.
'The ogre could take away this snake from us ..."
'He's innocent. He came here to rescue Abigail," Elizabeth completed, frowning.
There was no time for jokes, even though Johnny's fixed gaze didn't show he hadn't spoken seriously.
Eventually, the boy gave up and did exactly as he was told, and the girl approached the ogre.
All this time, the odious creature placed the cage where Abigail was on a rock he used as a table, doing all this with the ease of moving a glass from one place to another.
Approaching ever closer, Elizabeth managed to better understand the features of the ogre. It resembled a huge man only in terms of stature; the rest was ... monstrosity. His arms ended with huge claws that touched the ground even when the beast was standing. His shoulders were as big and strong as the bears' that roamed in the forests of North America.
The creature looked at Abigail from time to time, saying the same words:
'You stay ... my wife. Dine with me," the monster pointed at Alexander, striving to keep the fire away from him.
When she heard this, the beautiful Abigail, a brunette teenager, with smooth and white skin of a fairy-tale princess, sat down and started crying again. She hardly calmed down.
When Elizabeth saw Johnny approaching Alexander to help him untie himself, she approached the ogre. The ogre heard a beautiful song coming from the ether charming all the ears in that forest. He forgot about Alexander. He listened to the song to the end, and then approached the one who sang so divinely.
'Good day," said the girl in a trembling voice.
The ogre jumped up and in a moment he was almost glued to Elizabeth, who had only now managed to see his truly hideous image. His face was full of cuts and scratches, and the long, black hair of the kite was dirty and wrapped in mud, with all sorts of resins and glues through it ... probably from the trees.
His huge beard and the hair on his face couldn't hide his teeth as huge as the claws, chaotically grown in his mouth. Dagger-like teeth ... And all kinds of insects kept buzzing around his face, sign that he wasn't used to washing himself. As for the smell ... imagine breaking a carton of rotten eggs mixed with the smell of a mud puddle where a dozen wild boars usually play. That result wouldn't be close to the smell that Elizabeth had to put up with.
That ogre had huge hands. His palm was almost as large as Elizabeth. In the palm of his hand he held a mace almost as big as his body, a mace made of a metal sphere full of many sharp spikes, fastened to a tree trunk full of knots.
As a garment he had only one sort of ... apron on him. The naked body also full of scratches and cuts, sign that he used to fight with other creatures at least as dangerous, was very dirty and odorous.
'Who are you?" the creature asked, smelling the girl.
Even though he was hideous, the ogre's gaze was kind when he looked at the girl.
'We'd like to take Abigail back ... the girl you kidnapped."
'She's my wife. Not your business. Leave!"
The ogre's face suddenly darkened. His nice gaze was replaced by a look full of hatred and anger, considering what happened behind him.
'The food!"
The ogre quickly looked back as he felt another smell, sign that someone was close to Alexander and Abigail. He saw Johnny as he managed to untie Alexander, which enraged him. He snapped at them even through the burning fire that could hurt him, without caring about it.
Johnny and Alexander, very scared, fell on their backs.
The ogre managed to grab Johnny with one hand, but missed Alexander. He didn't give up and followed him, just as a cat chases the mouse running madly to save his life, holding Johnny in one hand and with the other striking with the mace.
Elizabeth took out her magic wand and:
'Fortioris!"
The ogre's eyes started burning as if they were pierced by hot ember. Unaware of what happened to him, blinded and scared at the same time by the magic that struck him in the eyes, he let Johnny go away. The boy fell on the creature's pillow, a pile of hay, straw and twigs.
The same Fortioris magic hit the lock that held Abigail's cage closed, but nothing happened.
When the ogre saw the girl didn't calm down and hit the lock again, turned his attention to her.
'Wife, Zghigor has got ... little beast… we cook it like the other two."
The ogre, whose name was Zghigor, decided that Elizabeth would become food for him, given that she was in his way. So he headed for the girl, even if the girl kept hitting his face with the magic spells from her wand. It seemed these blows or strokes had no effect on his body.
'Fortioris!" shouted Alexander too, destroying the lock and finally managing to release Abigail.
After that, he and Johnny began to hit the ogre with various magic spells, but without too many consequences.
Eventually, the ogre arrived in front of Elizabeth. He picked her and was ready to bite her when .... The giant decided to throw her down into the branches of a tree. Then he began to twirl his head frantically in all directions, smelling the air.
'More wizards ..."
And in a moment he was struck by several powerful blows in the head and torso.
The ogre dropped the mace out of pain. Suddenly, Professor Knudlac and other professors appeared. Words like Inpulsa, Conscidisti, Ardere and Iactus were heard loud and clear.
Strong blows, cuts on the ogre's face or burns on his body, large objects thrown at the ogre from all sides, all this made the monster lose balance. He collapsed to the ground with grief. Even fallen to the ground, the ogre had enough power and turned into a huge, fierce bear, as if there were ten bears into one.
The thick coat now defended him better than the magic of the Guardians so he managed to hit with his huge paw some professors and throw them away.
'Duplici!" could be heard from Knudlac.
And then there was another ... Knudlac.
'Prope necessitudines!" shouted the two.