Jessica made a pushing motion with her hands and it was like Brynn had been hit by a charging rhino. They were all lifted off their feet and thrown. Brynn kept waiting to land. She tried to get ready to brace herself for impact. She shouldn’t have had enough time to even think about bracing herself for impact and then it occurred to her that she just saw the edge of the quarry go by. They were falling into the quarry.
Her arms and legs spun around like a cat trying to right itself. She could feel Miranda and Jerom close to her, as she tried to twist herself around. She was hoping they knew what to do, because she couldn’t think of anything to do except maybe bounce when she hit the ground.
Chapter 52
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Jerom’s lips moving fast. The ground was coming up quickly, so she hoped whatever he was doing would happen soon. And then she felt it, a big cushion of air. Her hair was whipping about her head practically blinding her. Her velocity had slowed way down but she was still going pretty fast. She kicked her legs around and twisted her arms about her body swinging herself into position so she didn’t land face first just as she hit. Hard. Pain.
She landed roughly on her shoulder and down her left side. She had to get up though, because the other demons were going to blip in there any moment. Jerom and Miranda were slowly getting to their feet too. Brynn looked up to the place they used to be standing. The edge of the quarry blocked her view, but she could see the glow coming off the angel’s swords and she could hear sounds of battle. Jessica peered over the edge and looked down at them. She didn’t look happy.
The three of them were looking around for cover, for anything that might help to protect them. The only thing Brynn could see were the big granite slabs tumbled like blocks at the sides of the quarry.
“Over there, that granite,” Brynn shouted. They ran over and then slid in behind the rocks, breathing hard.
“Is everyone okay?” Jerom asked.
“Broken ribs,” Miranda said between ragged breaths.
“I’m good. I just feel like I ran into a brick wall. What about you?” Brynn asked Jerom.
“Road rash,” he said as he lifted his shirt. His back and side was one huge abrasion, weeping blood. “I’ll live.”
“Miranda, is it bad?” Brynn asked as she gingerly lifted her shirt, which was mostly hanging off her in strips after all she had been through.
“It’s bearable,” she winced as Brynn barely touched her. The most incredible bruise was blossoming over Miranda’s chest and flank. She was in incredible pain. She just looked up at Brynn and smiled. She was so tough. Most people Brynn knew would be huddled in a corner catatonic after what she’d been through. Not Miranda.
Brynn felt the sucking air feeling. The demons were coming.
“They’re coming! What can we do?” Jerom shouted.
Miranda started to draw in power, “Tornado!”
“That’s perfect,” said Jerom as he started to draw in power. They were both making circular, stirring motions with their arms.
“Brynn, you can help us,” grunted Miranda, she was really concentrating. “Think of a tornado.”
Brynn focused in on the feel of the breeze around her. She visualized it in her mind like strips of fabric flowing around her. She started moving her arms in sweeping circular motions. Pulling the strips in and spinning them around themselves. Drawing the air in and spinning it around faster and faster.
The angels swooped in and landed on the granite that Jerom, Miranda and Brynn were using for protection, just as the demons popped in too.
“Is everyone okay?” Calden asked without turning.
“We’re hanging in there. How many are left?” Brynn asked while still trying to concentrate.
“The five there in front of us. Jessica could call in more though,” Calden added.
Jerom, Miranda and Brynn were standing behind a granite block that hit Brynn about chest level. They continued to draw in the air and spin in around itself as the whirlwind started to form. The angels were on top of the granite facing away from Jerom, Miranda and Brynn while they were trying to position the twisting mass of air between the angels and the demons striding toward the granite. The tornado was small, maybe fifteen feet high, but it was really loud. Brynn couldn’t hear anything else, just the rushing of the air.
“Push! Push it into the demons!” Jerom shouted at them. Brynn could just barely hear him, but she pushed. They all pushed.
The tornado moved toward the line of demons. It was barely controllable. The demons turned and started sprinting away from the mini twister. Brynn’s head felt ready to explode as she tried to angle the windstorm after the retreating demons. The angels leapt down from the granite block and ran after the demons.
“Push harder, faster. We’re almost there,” Miranda yelled. Sweat was running down her face. She was near exhaustion.
As Brynn pushed on the tornado she concentrated on making it spin even faster. It started to pick up chunks of granite and threw them back out. They were having to duck and dodge not to get hit. The angels took to the air and flew up and over the demons to get in front of them. The demons were trapped between the tornado and the angels.
The mass of swirling air dragged the closest demon into it. It clawed and scrabbled at the ground for purchase. Its claws couldn’t seem to find purchase in the earth as if the ground refused its touch.
Brynn, Jerom and Miranda angled the twister slightly and another two demons were caught in its vacuum also. The three bodies were twisted and torn at impossible angles and then they were flung out of the tornado. Where they landed it looked like more than just the three demons because the bodies were in so many pieces. Brynn turned away from the carnage she had helped to create. She swallowed several times trying not to be sick.
Chapter 53
Brynn looked up to see Jessica out of the corner of her eye. She was running at them across the bottom of the quarry. Suddenly Brynn was flung from her feet by a piece of granite the size of her fist. The pain in her arm and shoulder was intense and she couldn’t get herself to move. The tornado faltered and then dissipated as Miranda and Jerom were being targeted with granite by Jessica also.
Brynn crawled her way back farther behind the granite block. Her arm was useless to her and her shoulder was on fire. She used her other hand to pull herself up to where she could see over the protecting rock. She focused on the tornado again.
Jessica wasn’t moving. She was just muttering under her breath, a spell probably. Then, she looked up, straight at them, and Brynn felt as if the power she was using to spin the tornado had been wrenched from her mind. Her head was shot through with pain so intense she fell to the ground. Miranda and Jerom were lying on the ground with her moaning too. Tears were streaming from her eyes as she tried to gain control of herself. She dragged herself back up and peered over the edge of the granite. Jessica was stalking towards them.
The angels were battling the last two demons. Flyers. The worst. Claws, thorny tails and projectile acid spitting. Calden and Mathius had burn marks across their bodies and their wings. Mathius was opened up from a gash running down his sword arm and Calden had a ragged tear across the left side of his chest. They weren’t bleeding, but still, that must hurt thought Brynn.
It didn’t seem to be just a battle of swords and claws. It was a battle of wills too. Both sides were gesturing and both sides were being flung and wrenched and pushed by unseen forces.
Jerom pulled himself up beside Brynn. He looked bad. A lot like how Brynn looked.
“We have to do something about her,” she said, pointing in Jessica's direction. “My mind feels like torn tissue paper. I’m not sure what I can do.”
“Mine too,” Jerom admitted, rubbing the side of his head. “Can you slow her down, maybe using the spirits that are around us? Are there any spirits around us?”
“I hadn’t thought of that.”
Brynn changed the way she looked around her. It was like she chose to be aware of
any spirits that were around. She felt, inside her head, an explosion. Not something current, something from the past. She got a flash of men working in the quarry and then shouts and running. Then she could saw the actual explosion, bodies flying, broken bodies scattered. Her mind returned to the present and the men who she just saw being killed were walking toward her, or their spirits were walking toward her she figured.
“I need your help. Can you help me?” she asked.
“We will help, Bringer. You have seen what their kind,” he pointed to the demons, “did to us?”
“I saw an explosion,” she said.
“They caused it, influencing one of the men to set off the charge early and killed us all. We will help.”
“I need you to trap that woman that is controlling the demons. Keep her pinned down so the angels can do their work. Can you do that?”
“We will do what we can.”
They turned and moved toward Jessica, kind of in quick jumps, phasing in and out and suddenly they were surrounding her. They heard her muffled screams as she felt them smothering her. There were fifty or sixty of them all crushing in on her. Holding her and dragging at her with their spiritual presence.
Chapter 54
Brynn bent down to check on Miranda. She’d been hit on the head. There was a deep cut on the side of her scalp and it was rapidly oozing out blood.
“Give me your shirt, Jerom!” Brynn shouted to get his attention. He jumped a little and looked around and down at them, like he forgot they were there. He was a little out of it too and his arm was broken from the way it was just hanging by his side. He knelt down by her and she gently pulled his shirt off of him being careful of his arm. It took both of them because they each only had one good arm. He cringed a bit with the pain, but it hurt a lot worse than he was letting on.
Brynn bunched up his t-shirt and pressed it against Miranda’s head. She didn’t even move. She was lying on her side, sprawled with her arms flung out unconscious. She was still alive, her chest was moving up and down, but she was going to need some serious help and soon. There was a bloody rock sitting beside her, the one that hit her and it was big.
“What’s going on out there?” Brynn asked Jerom. He crawled around to the side of the rock and looked out.
“One of the flyers just fell to the ground. Mathius flew down after him. The flyer is getting up and he is lashing out with his tail, but not very hard. He’s oozing disgusting stuff from a whole lot of wounds.
“Mathius just jumped over his tail, that was cool, and he’s getting in close. He just made a slapping motion with his hand and the demon’s head snapped sideways and he stumbled. Mathius is swinging with his sword and he slashed him right through his neck. Oh, man, that is so disgusting . His head is about half off, and all this stuff is bubbling out. Okay, one flyer down.”
“What about Calden? Is he still okay?” Brynn asked. She gently lifted the makeshift bandage away from Miranda’s scalp to check if it was still bleeding.
“Calden and the last flyer are circling each other in the air. Calden has some pretty big burned places on his wings. This looks like the biggest one of the flyers and he’s not slowing down yet. Mathius just like, collapsed or something. I’m going to go check on him.”
“Okay, but be careful. Miranda isn’t bleeding as badly but it’s still oozing pretty good,” Brynn pressed the shirt back down to her scalp making Miranda squirm slightly.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can. Take care of Miranda.”
She just nodded, scared that he was leaving. She really couldn’t see anything from back there and it made her feel like things were creeping up on her. Miranda started to stir and she opened her eyes.
“What’s going on and why are you hurting my head?” She sounded really ticked off which relieved Brynn. If Miranda was ticked off she wasn’t going to die.
“Jessica hit you with that rock and you’ve got a pretty bad cut on your head. Here, can you hold this?”
Miranda moved her hand over the shirt she had wadded up against her head. She flinched as she pushed down on the improvised bandage, but nodded her head that she had it.
“I’ll be right here, I just need to peek out and see what’s going on.”
Brynn crawled one-armed around to the side of the slab and took a look. Jerom was trying to drag Mathius over to their little hideout, but Mathius was big and heavy and Jerom only had the use of one arm. Brynn was going to have to help. She looked up to see what was going on with Calden and they seemed to be at a stalemate, they were just circling around each other warily.
“I’ll be right back.” She let Miranda know over her shoulder as she was leaving. She didn’t wait to hear her response, just in case it was negative. She bent over and ran to Jerom and Mathius. Jerom was sitting with Mathius draped over his lap and he was scooting backwards. Mathius couldn’t be dragged on his back because of his wings and he couldn’t be dragged on his chest because of his wound.
“What are you doing here, get back under cover,” he growled at her.
“You can’t do this by yourself. I’m here to help,” she yelled back.
“What about Miranda?”
“She woke up and she’s okay for the moment. What do you want me to do?”
The look he gave her wasn’t pleasant, but resigned, so she bent down on hand and knees and with a bit of arguing and some rather painful maneuvering they were able to get Mathius up across their backs and they started crawling back. He was a lot heavier than he looked. The angel was dense and heavily muscled. Since both of them had an injured arm they had to kind of hop with the other arm like a three-legged dog. It was a bumpy ride for Mathius and probably best that he wasn’t conscious. Brynn’s legs were screaming from the exertion. They were both so relieved when they were able to ease him off their backs and onto his back trying to be careful of his wings. He looked pretty bad, but his heart was still beating, so Brynn was hoping he would be okay. Miranda scooted up next to Mathius to watch over him while Brynn joined Jerom to see how Calden was doing.
Chapter 55
Brynn checked to see if the spirits of the quarry workers still had a good hold on Jessica. She was fighting like a feral cat, but she was still stuck.
The stalemate seemed to be over and Calden and the flyer were all over each other. The wounds the flyer had opened up on Calden were horrible. Huge deep gashes were weeping a clear liquid. From the look on his face he was in extreme pain.
Calden swooped in to strike with his sword but the flyer evaded and they ended up crashing into each other. They grabbed each other in some kind of gruesome embrace.
The flyer was clawing and biting Calden and then Calden started to glow. The glow escalated until it was almost too bright to look at. The flyer was screeching in pain but resisted letting go.
“What can we do? We need to help him somehow,” Brynn poked at Jerom hoping for an answer.
“Um…,” he said looking around, “throw rocks?”
“Good idea. At least it’s...something.” Jerom and Brynn started tossing rocks at the flyer. Brynn was really loving the way she could pick up the rocks with her mind and make them go exactly where she wanted them to. It didn’t appear to be hurting the flyer too much, but maybe they could distract it enough for Calden to get loose.
They kept throwing granite chunks at it and Jerom got in a particularly good hit. He opened up a gash on its back. With a final inhuman scream the flyer pushed Calden away from it.
“Way to go. Nice one,” said Brynn.
Jerom just nodded.
“Thanks. It’s pretty creepy how they ooze that black stuff.”
Jerom’s strike hurt the flyer and it took a second and looked over its shoulder at them with its nasty dead-looking black eyes. Then it hissed at them.
Calden took the chance and flew in close.
His sword appeared to brighten and then he swung, slicing down from the flyer’s shoulder across its body and out near the opposing leg. The demon fell from th
e sky, landing hard enough to shake everyone off their feet.
Jessica screamed, “No!” pounding the ground with her fists as she realized the last of her demons was downed. Her frustration was short lived and soon turned to fear. She collapsed to the ground shaking. The spirits surrounding her turned as one toward Calden and waited.
Brynn and Jerom picked themselves up off the ground while Miranda stood up cautiously. Calden slowly descended. Just as he touched the ground he nodded to Brynn and Jerom and then they all fell still. Waiting. Everything went still. No sounds. No movement. The wind even ceased to stir. It was as if the world was acknowledging something significant had just occurred. It lasted only a moment and then Calden shook his wings slightly breaking the spell.
Brynn blinked twice coming back to herself then grabbed Jerom by the good arm and they jogged over to Calden.
“Are you all right?” Brynn asked, putting her uninjured arm around his waist to help support him. Jerom took the other side and they half carried him back over to Miranda and Mathias.
“I’m good. Without your help, it wouldn’t have worked though. I thank you.”
“Oh, no! We should be thanking you. There was no way we could have taken on all those demons by ourselves,” Jerom grunted noises of agreement with Brynn. “Mathias needs your help though, his heart is beating, but he’s really badly hurt.”
Calden kissed her head and squeezed Jerom around his shoulders and then knelt down by Mathias. He placed his hands on Mathias” chest, and started to glow. Then, Mathias started to glow and finally opened his eyes. He laid his hands atop Calden’s and something intense passed between them.
Calden pulled him up into a hug and then he pulled Brynn in against his back and Mathias pulled Miranda in and Brynn pulled Jerom in and it turned into one big group hug. Brynn laid her head across Calden’s shoulder which was covered by his wing and sank into the soft feathery lightness of him. Just touching him, she began to feel refreshed.
The Bringer Page 20