Free The House of Yeel by Michael McCloskey Page A

calculate a likely future
location of the black serpent. He hurled the sphere with one
tentacle while swinging his malinthander in the other direction
with another. He thought the sphere felt warm just as it left his
hand. Or had it been his imagination?
    The serpent darted away
predictably, sending its sinuous body sliding directly over the
sphere. Yeel reversed direction, attempting to make some distance.
A muffled boom sent bloody, scaly body parts raining down
throughout the garden. A fragment of bone struck Yeel in the trunk,
sending a white-hot bolt of pain hurtling along his nerves. He
tried to put the injury out of his mind.
    Would the death of Slevander
result in the freeing of his victims? Yeel eagerly looked toward
the closest statue. As he watched, the person returned to flesh and
bone. It was a man in chain wielding a long halberd.
    The man at arms took one step forward, a
smile forming on his face as he realized his change of state. Then
he saw Yeel.
    The man screamed and ran.

Chapter 7: Aftermath
     
    Jymoor found herself lying on cold stone in
near darkness.
    Is this what it’s like to
be a statue?
    She blinked. No…statues can’t blink , she told herself.
    She lifted her head and turned this way and
that, looking for light. She saw some illumination coming from
directly above, through a screen of leaves and roots.
    “I must have fallen through
that hole,” she said. She felt her limbs, checking if her bones
were intact. She felt something warm and sticky…blood…in her hair.
She didn’t seem to be seriously injured.
    “How will I get out?” Jymoor considered the
monster Slevander. Did she want to get out? Maybe she would be
safe, here. Until she starved.
    Jymoor heard something. A familiar voice came
to her in broken pieces of conversation. She struggled to catch the
words.
    “I tell you that she is
invaluable…my guide and personal aide…drew me from my fortress…so
many of us…comb the flora…the serpent has consumed her…search for
her corpse…”
    “Yeel!” Jymoor called out. Her voice
reverberated loudly in the tunnel. “Yeel, can you hear me?”
    “What…that I heard…listen!
listen!”
    “Yeel, I’m down here! Help
me!” Jymoor yelled at the top of her lungs.
    The voice grew louder.
    “Ah, of course, such a
simple explanation! She’s fallen through that gap in the earth’s
surface! A natural cavern of some sort, and thank gravity for the
rest. It has greedily sucked her into the bowels of the planet. It
occurs to me that such a fall may have inflicted injury on my
friend—”
    “Yeel, I’m fine! Please get
me out of here.”
    “Ah, she awaits rescue! We must immediately
devise a means by which we could—”
    “Drop me a rope…or a
vine!”
    “Now that’s an interesting
plan. A long flexible cord of some sort of…wait a second! Wait,
that’s giving me an idea. Jymoor, close your eyes. I think I can
effect your escape from there. Halt your visual reconnoiter for but
a moment!”
    “What?”
    “Just stand still and close
your eyes, my friend. Close your eyes for a second and I shall use
a…a rope, as you say, please just do as I say and I will take care
of the rest. Release your anxiety and trust in me.”
    Jymoor felt confused, but she trusted the
tall, wordy mage. She closed her eyes, standing uncertainly in the
dark.
    “I have my eyes closed.”
    The barest whisper of a
scraping…or slithering…noise came from above. Suddenly a cordon of
taut material encircled her waist and rocketed her upward through
the nest of roots above.
    “Ack! What!” Jymoor spat.
She couldn’t open her eyes as the roots whipped over her face. Then
she felt warm sunlight and her feet found the ground again. Jymoor
took a peek and found herself next to Yeel, in the garden. All
about them people stood looking as confused as Jymoor
felt.
    “A most dangerous opening in the earth, my
friend. I shall have to make an effort to remember it, lest others
fall victim to the