Blood and Fire (Book 3)

by Marcus Alexander

  Charlie, riding upon Hotstepper’s back, felt her stomach churn with worry for E’Jaaz. She had concerns that opening such a large Portal by himself, even strengthened by the dragonsblood, could cause complications. She crossed her fingers in the hope that he suffered no permanent damage.

  Another wave of nervous excitement washed through her and she gripped Hotstepper’s shoulders tighter. This was it. The end. No matter what happened when they reached the Western Mountains, for good or for ill she would see this through. Her time had come.

  Doubts, fatigue and concerns aside, she was surprised to find that she felt OK. She breathed in deeply and felt full of life. The bracing wind felt amazing on her skin and when the Winged Ones soared through a shaft of sunlight she was mesmerized by all the colours of their glittering scales. Life, just as Rumbling Hunger had said, could be good.

  ‘Just got to make sure I stay alive long enough to enjoy it,’ she whispered as she held her ruined hand aloft. It was a stark reminder of all the things that could go disastrously wrong.

  ‘What was that?’ asked Hotstepper.

  ‘Nothing,’ she replied.

  Jensen turned so he could wave at her from Rocksteady’s back. She was just about to mirror the gesture when she caught a flicker of motion out of the corner of her eye. Twisting round, she saw a line of twelve Stowyrms flying east to join the Stoman army and just as she had seen them they had spotted her too. Now they broke formation and sped towards the Winged Ones.

  ‘Hotstepper!’

  He followed her outstretched finger.

  ‘Last Laugh!’ he hollered. ‘Foes to the north!’

  After a moment’s contemplation, Last Laugh shouted his commands. ‘Remember, we’re not here to fight these, we’re here for the source! Stay low and keep up!’

  Whipping his tail, he hurtled down the sheer slope of a mountain, then disappeared into a bank of cloud. The others followed. Still not used to these gut-wrenching dives, Charlie yelped when she felt the unfamiliar acceleration (and was slightly reassured to hear Jensen’s shriek of horror), then they were through the cloud and racing alongside the walls of a steep valley. Speeding onward, they churned over ancient glaciers, scraped above razor-sharp mountain passes and whisked through the spray of cascading waterfalls.

  Minutes later they passed their first Stoman dwelling. Smooth and organic-looking, like some wonderful seashell, it flashed beneath their feet. Charlie caught a glimpse of startled faces – a young boy trying to herd shirasheer and mountain huffalo, an old woman with a pack of firewood hanging from her back – then they were gone. In the next valley they saw more buildings and more people, then a small hamlet, then a village. Every once in a while they would see statues too, some large, some huge and one so big that it was nearly the same size as the mountains that neighboured it.

  Seeing the increase in population density, Charlie knew they must be nearing their destination. With this too came the knowledge that she would soon be facing her adversary. Trying to ignore the sudden surge of stage-fright, she pushed aside the last vestiges of doubt and summoned her Will. It flickered reassuringly around her and left a trail of yellow sparks to flutter from her knuckles as it was caught in the wind.

  The Winged Ones felt their approaching destination too. They began to growl and bark and allow streams of flame to seep from their nostrils and the sides of their mouths. Jensen, after giving her one final wave of reassurance, pulled his Bramblesword from its scabbard and began tying it to his fist with a length of green ribbon so it would not fall from his grasp, no matter what.

  Gusting around a valley corner, they were greeted by two gigantic peaks that had once been mountains but had since been carved into the likeness of two Stoman warriors armed with sword and spear. Arms outstretched, their weapons met to form an archway of sorts. The sky above was heavy with turbulent clouds and the ground beneath thick with buildings. Beyond the archway lay the city. And in the city centre there lay a dark maw. Its walls seemed sheer but it disappeared into the shadows before Charlie could guess at its depth. And from this sucking pit of darkness a steady stream of Stowyrms snaked and whirled into the air before disappearing like bad omens into the roiling clouds overhead.

  ‘Destroy the source first!’ cried Last Laugh, repeating his earlier commands. ‘Then we find that upstart Bane and show him the severity of justice!’

  The Winged Ones began to growl in earnest. The sound of their ferocity rumbled across the cityscape, causing the startled inhabitants to look up and point in alarm. Tails lashing, wind roaring around them and flames bursting with greater frequency from their mouths, the dragons stormed over the city of the Western Mountains.

  They hugged the buildings and swerved beneath the legs of huge statues. At last they flew out over the dark maw that lay in the centre and –

  Time slowed.

  Charlie’s eyes widened. The maw was not the bottomless hole she had imagined but a canyon, wide and deep, and it was this that held the city proper. With swift realization it dawned upon Charlie that the buildings above had been nothing more than suburbs. As Hotstepper’s wings spread wide, she leaned out so she could drink in all the details. Shapes, statues and dwellings had been carved into the canyon’s walls but these were minor compared to the gargantuan buildings that reared from the canyon’s floor. Twelve and thirteen storeys tall, they loomed like a herd of gigantic beasts that, pressed close to one another, had no space to grow other than upward. But it was the shape of the buildings that really drew Charlie’s eyes and caused her to gasp. They had been formed to resemble Stoman faces. Some sneered and posed with lofty expressions; others appeared cold and distant. Smaller buildings, crammed between the larger, had been sculpted into clenched fists. The Stoman metropolis was the very antithesis of Sylvaris. Where the Tremen had celebrated life and growth, this urban cityscape revered and revelled in might and militant power. Heavy with shadows and illuminated weirdly with glowing crystals, it bristled with an uneasy atmosphere.

  Charlie blinked and time renewed its normal speed.

  ‘THE SOURCE!’ commanded Last Laugh in a voice that rivalled Torn Moon’s. ‘FIND THE SOURCE!’

  Hotstepper followed these hasty instructions with words of his own.

  ‘No matter what, Charlie of the Keepers, you hold tight and do not let go. Do not let go!’

  Charlie grunted a non-committal reply. His words were wise but she was unsure how she felt about Last Laugh’s directions to destroy Bane’s dark god first rather than taking on Bane. Half-composed thoughts of abandoning the Winged Ones to find her parents came to mind, but before she could think these through Last Laugh raced towards a rocky chasm that zigzagged between a row of Stoman monuments. The chasm was dark and forbidding and glowed with a moody red light that suggested the distant presence of lava. From this unappealing passage a new flight of Stowyrms appeared. Shrieking and hooting, they slalomed between two buildings that looked like a fist and a screaming face before gaining enough height to climb over the canyon’s rim and disappear from sight.

  Unbelievably, for all the Winged Ones’ ferocious growls, the Stowyrms appeared not to have noticed them.

  Yet.

  Rocksteady and Last Laugh took the lead. Their crews, Hotstepper and Nibbler squeezed close behind them. Faster and faster they flew. Growling with eagerness and pent-up rage that screamed with the need to be released, they fell towards the chasm.

  Straight into another wave of Stowyrms.

  Last Laugh collided with two of the beasts and, gnashing and rending at each other, they disappeared into the darkness. Rocksteady managed to tear the wings off an adversary, then he too disappeared. The others, unable to check their momentum, also piled into the Stowyrms.

  Charlie was blinded for a moment by a wave of fire. As this cleared she swiftly ducked beneath a row of glistening teeth, then ducked the other way to avoid a spiked tail.

  Then she too was in the chasm.

  Cracks of brilliant blue and white lightning pushed bac
k the shadows. Charlie caught flashes of wrestling figures and nightmare shapes. Fierce growls, shrieks and piercing whistles tore at her ears. Something slammed against her, knocking her part-way down Hotstepper’s spine. Fighting to regain her balance, she clawed herself back up to his shoulders. There came yet another flash of lightning; she caught a glimpse of an approaching Stowyrm, all teeth and buzzing wings, then darkness again. The next blow, unseen and violent, was so powerful that it knocked her clean off Hotstepper and, with a yell of surprise, she found herself free-falling.

  Through the darkness.

  Surrounded by growling beasts.

  55

  Falling in the Dark

  As Charlie fell, fear clenched her throat so tightly that she struggled to breathe.

  Something slapped against her. Panicking, she tried to spin round only to feel the thrum of wings brush through her hair.

  ‘Hotstepper!’ she yelled at the top of her voice.

  Getting no response, she cried, ‘Nibbler!’

  A fork of lightning momentarily lit the air and Charlie found herself, not as she’d hoped amongst friends, but surrounded by Stowyrms.

  Darkness fell again.

  Feeling the fear well up to the point where she thought she might explode, Charlie instinctively opened a Portal … only to realize that she’d completely forgotten about Bane’s barrier to travel. She saw the outline of her Portal and heard a roar, then a whoosh that, constrained within the walls of the chasm, was almost deafening. There came another flicker of lightning, then a flare of flame. Charlie saw Winged Ones battling overhead and, beneath her, a torrent of black orchids jettisoning from her Portal.

  Darkness again.

  Panicking, and certain that at any minute she would feel the teeth of a Stowyrm closing round her waist, Charlie pulled deeply on her Will and thrust a protective shield beneath her feet. She slammed against something, bounced, slammed again, then came to an abrupt and painful impact that jarred her feet and rattled her bones.

  ‘Ooooff!’

  As she lay there, winded and unable to move, she caught a final flicker of light and then nothing. The furious sound of battle receded, leaving her very much alone. Still cocooned in fear, she was hesitant to move her limbs in case she found something broken. Unpleasant memories of the cave beneath the Stubborn Citadel, Lallinda the Daemon Queen, Edge Darkmount, her broken leg and of being buried alive flickered before her eyes. Panting, she felt sweat drip down her spine and pool in her lower back. Then she heard something rustle in the darkness, shrieked and jumped to her feet.

  Brandishing waves of yellow Will, she held her hands aloft like blazing torches. The rustle came again and she spun round to find not a Stowyrm or a Shade as she had thought but a teetering pile of black orchids that whispered as they cascaded downward. There were more beneath her feet and with a flash of insight she realized that although the Portal had not acted as a Gateway, or a weapon, it had instead cushioned her fall.

  ‘No broken bones, that’s good,’ she whispered.

  Putting more power into her hands, she studied her surroundings; she seemed to be in a smaller side tunnel that led away from the main chasm. Seeing a subtle red glow, she nervously headed towards it but stopped when she heard more rustling. It was the orchids tumbling over a lip and out of sight. She edged forwards and found herself peering into the throat of the main chasm: one direction led upward to the distant city (she couldn’t believe how far she had fallen!) and the other direction led down to some unseen destination. From the glow and the smell of sulphur, Charlie assumed that molten lava was in some way involved.

  There was no sign of the Winged Ones.

  Grasping a craggy handhold, she leaned a little further out in the hope of locating the end of the chasm, some sign of a suitable destination, or at least some companions.

  ‘Companions would be good,’ she muttered.

  She screamed and leaped back as a nightmare array of teeth suddenly lunged towards her. Scrambling back into a pile of orchids, she watched in horror as another column of Stowyrms shrieked past her on their way to the surface.

  Heart pounding, fingers shaking, she backed even further away from the chasm. A calmer, more sensible part of her brain realized she was close to losing her cool and that panic was setting in.

  ‘What would Rumbling Hunger say about fear?’ she whispered. ‘Probably something stupid about turning it into a Fluttercarp and eating it …’

  She knew it was a little odd to be talking to herself but she also knew that it helped to hold back the terror. Squeezing her fingers so the nails dug into her palms, she tried to distract herself with memories of travelling through the Winged Realm. Images of floating islands, indigo skies and riding Hotstepper’s back came to mind, as did the sound of Rumbling Hunger’s deep laugh.

  ‘No, he wouldn’t say anything about Fluttercarp. Hunger would say Use your fear …’ She paused to give some thought to the matter. ‘Use it as a tool to help me get out of here.’

  Feeling a bit more in control and realizing she still had a job to do, Charlie once again summoned her Will so she could better look around. The chasm’s throat lay in that direction, so she chose to investigate the other direction. Forcing Will from both hands, she crept forward and was pleasantly surprised to find that the cave was not a dead end but in fact offered another way out.

  Using her fear to spur herself on, she decided to see where it would take her.

  The flicker of her Will allowed her to see where she was going. Unfortunately it also cast eerie shadows that did little for her confidence. It didn’t take much for her imagination to start working against her and she started mistaking stalactites for Rhinospider legs and weird rocks for Shades waiting to pounce. Gritting her teeth, she pushed onward.

  The tunnel, not easy to navigate in the first place, began to contract and soon Charlie had to hunch over as she progressed. The roof grew even closer and she was forced to her hands and knees, then on to her stomach, with no choice but to squirm along. Claustrophobia began to kick in and Charlie worried that the tunnel, already pressing against her, might collapse at any moment. Alternating between whimpering and cursing her own shortcomings, she nonetheless pressed onward. After all, what choice did she have?

  Suddenly she heard a click-click from ahead and froze. The last thing she needed right now was to come face to face with a spitting Shade.

  ‘Going to have to show it who’s boss,’ she blustered.

  Pushing more Will in front of her, she squirmed forward, expecting at any moment her enemy to pounce on her. As she rounded a sharp curve that caused her spine to scrape uncomfortably against the cramped ceiling, she spotted not the Shade she had expected but a fat toad. The sides of its chubby back glowed with a soft orange luminescence.

  The toad and Charlie stared at one another.

  With a hop and a plop, the toad leaped on her back, jumped along her legs, then disappeared the way she had come. Charlie blinked in astonishment. Not sure what to make of the weird experience but glad it had been nothing more unpleasant, she wriggled onward. As she persevered, the tunnel started to expand and she was once again able to get back on to her hands and knees. Another toad cheerfully hopped past her. Eventually the tunnel widened to the point where she could stand and, rounding another bend, she found herself in a cave.

  It was so full of fat toads that it glowed with enough orange light for Charlie to see without the need of her Will. Skirting a pond, she listened to their chirps and ribbets. At the far side of the cavern she was dismayed to find a dead end. Just as she was about to slap her forehead in frustration she noticed a large grille implanted in the wall. Unwilling to go back the way she had come, she put her hands on the lattice and gave it an experimental tug.

  It didn’t move.

  ‘I’m not going back!’ protested Charlie. The thought of returning to the dark chasm and the Stowyrms filled her with dread. ‘I’m not!’

  She filled herself with Will, grabbed the grille an
d ripped it from the wall in one effortless motion.

  Charlie looked at the grille in astonishment. When she let it drop from her hands it clank-clunked with a sound indicative of great weight.

  She blinked. ‘Well, what do you know?’ She was surprised at her own strength. ‘Fear does have its uses after all.’

  Feeling more confident, she waved goodbye to the cheerful toads and leaped into the vent.

  56

  Fear

  Jensen clung tightly to Rocksteady with one hand and struck out with his Bramblesword whenever there was lightning to see by and a Stowyrm to strike. Regretting his decision not to wear armour, he gritted his teeth and hoped he would escape this chaos and madness with all his limbs intact.

  The soft red glow intensified and he was almost blinded as they entered a new cavern complex that was partially submerged under a broad river of lava. Coughing on the unpleasant gases, he squinted over Rocksteady’s head to peer in front of them. The red river trailed onward and just before stalactites obscured the view he saw a star glittering in the distance. Instinct told him that this was probably the source they were looking for. He turned to share the news with Charlie, only to find her and Hotstepper missing. Just as he was about to cry out in alarm, Hotstepper plunged from the tunnel with two Stowyrms grappling at his throat. Charlie was not on his back. The sight sent a shiver of panic slamming down Jensen’s spine.

  ‘Rocksteady, we’re a man down!’

  ‘We’re more than a man down,’ said Rocksteady. ‘We’re missing a good quarter of our number. The fools must have taken a wrong turn in the darkness.’

  ‘I’m not talking about Winged Ones, I’m talking about Charlie. She’s missing and Hotstepper needs help!’