CHAPTER FIVE
Angel Attack
I stared at the wolf, incredulous. Had I really heard it speak? It waited there, as if expecting an answer. "What are you?" I asked.
The wolf growled in response and started forward. "Where's your weapon, little Witch?" it said, circling around me. I eyed him warily, waiting for him to move. He didn't seem interested in my rangir at all. And where were Mira and the other students? "What is your weakness, I wonder?"
"What are you talking about?" I asked, backing away toward the woodcutters' camp. "Do you know I've seen an Angel? Is that why you're here? I don't even know what the vision meant!"
The wolf leapt at me. His muzzle stopped inches from my face, and he fell back with a growl. A glow had started somewhere in my shirt, and I pulled out the serpent key I'd looped around my neck. It was radiating light, pulsating with inner life, like a creature itself. With the wolf recoiling from the light, I ran toward the shelter of the tower by the woodcutters' yard.
I tripped on a rock and fell into a roll on the dirt. My dress was going to be totally ruined by this. It was a silly thought when death and fangs stared me in the face, but I couldn't help but think it. I glanced around for the tower and saw a red-haired girl from my class on the pile of uncut logs. She screamed and struggled against something underneath the logs.
I took a step toward her, but something slimy grabbed my leg. A writhing, black tentacle latched onto my boot, pulling me down. I reached out and grabbed onto the first object I could find: a woodcutting hand axe. I hacked downward, missing the tentacle and planting the axe in the ground. The tentacle drew me closer, dragging me through the dirt. I pried the axe out and swung again. The metal head hit the dirt again and bounced off.
My classmate shrieked as she was pulled further down into the logs. The tentacle dragged me closer, until I was on the pile of logs as well, and could see what she was looking at. A monster with rows of razor-sharp teeth was underneath, and seemed to be pulling itself out of the ground as it dragged us down. Tentacles sprouted from its body, and it was covered with a spiny shell of black mucus.
I braced myself against the log with one hand and cut down with the axe. The head buried itself in the monster's head, causing black blood to ooze out. The creature howled, letting go with its tentacles. I took the other girl's hand and led her away, breaking into a run. "Get to the tower!" I said. "The bordermen are coming!" They had to be. This was what they watched for, wasn't it?
The girl, pale-faced, rushed toward the tower. I turned back to see if the monster would come after us. Instead, the wolf appeared, leaping over the cookfire with its golden eyes locked on me. I stared into its eyes, frozen. This couldn't be happening. The monsters of the forest had been beaten back by my mother. Why could I hear it speak? Why was it attacking only me?
An explosion sounded as the tower burst apart in a shower of fire and stone. Chunks of rock fell beside me, causing the wolf to hesitate. I looked to the sky. A rain of fire came down like hail, pelting the trees and igniting flames all around. For the first time, I noticed other dark figures leaping out of the trees and heading for the city. Twisted shapes of monsters from my worst nightmares joined the rest of the white direwolf's pack as they came down on Kant Vakt.
Something whirred by my ear. The wolf stopped short, growling at something behind me. Another whirr, and a crossbow bolt flew into the wolf's side. "Take aim at the target!" shouted a voice. Relief flooded over me. Boredermen in green cloaks approached with crossbows in hand and unloosed their quarrels at the wolf. He snarled and moved to evade. The bolts flew through the air, and a few hit their mark with dull thuds.
The wolf looked back at me, pausing as he crouched by a burning pyre of logs. Blood trickled from his wounds, but his movements were fluid and unimpaired. He said nothing, just stared at me with those unreadable golden eyes. Before the crossbowmen could reload, he bounded away down the forest path, a conflagration lighting up the trees all around us.
One of the bordermen grabbed my shoulder. "Back behind the lines!" he shouted. I had no idea what was going on, and my face probably showed it. He pointed to the soldiers behind him. "Nobles are to take cover in the sagekeep."
"What's happening?" I asked. It was barely a whisper, so he didn't hear me. They ushered me back with some of the other students they had gathered, leading us back into town. On the main road, we were a straight line away from the sagekeep, but the distance seemed to stretch on forever.
The streets were alive with monsters. Great black crows cawed overhead, shouting "die" over and over. Giant snakes slithered down the road. Rats crept through the streets. Hairy shapes bounded across the rooftops, running on all fours but shaped like people. If this was a dream, it was the worst nightmare I could imagine.
I moved to the back of the line, behind the bordermen. One kicked aside a hairy shape, eliciting a bestial groan as it scampered away. Another hacked a snake in half with his sword. I noticed a bright flame forming on the horizon. It wasn't the sun; the sun had been obscured by clouds all day, and still was. A brilliant red orb floated in the sky, growing by the second. It disappeared, and a plume of smoke rose up a few streets over. A wave of heat swept over me. The soldiers waved me toward the sagekeep.
This has to be a dream, I thought as I heard the wolf's laughter in the distance. This has to be a dream. It has to be a dream.
I'd only gone a few steps when the red blur appeared. It approached the bordermen, reflecting a reddish light off of their steel breastplates and shields. I squinted to make out what it was. As it came closer, I realized it was walking, like a person. No, it was a person. Sweat poured down my face in spite of the cold wind. How could a person walk within a ball of fire? I realized that a building next to me had been reduced to rubble. This was what was destroying the city. I stood frozen in fear, unable to move. An Angel—and not one that came in visions.
It was a man in full plate armor with a horned helm. Every inch of him blazed with reddish-orange fire, like he was made of light. He was nothing like the Angel I'd seen in the forest, though. This one carried a jagged sword and dragged a ball and chain behind him. He moved with slow, lumbering steps.
"Release!"
The crossbowmen aimed and fired at the Angel. Crossbow bolts flew straight at his body, but they incinerated on impact. Another flurry of bolts hit him, but they too burned. The Angel advanced, swinging the ball and chain at them. I flinched as the fiery ball threw aside dozens of bordermen as if they were dolls. They smashed against the walls, scattering bricks around the street.
The leader shouted out some commands, and a group of archers nocked arrows with oil-soaked rags on them. They fired into the inferno around the Angel, and the oil exploded with a deafening roar. I covered my ears and shut my eyes against the fierce winds that emanated from the explosion. "Archers, kneel!" I ducked behind the fountain as the world around me exploded again. "RELEASE!" More shouting, and another explosion.
Time passed in a haze. It seemed to have frozen in place, and for a while there was just the noise of battle and the ever-present heat of the Angel's flame. The bordermen gave a triumphant cry, so I dared to peek out over the pile of stone rubble. "Fine shooting, lads," said one of the leaders, clapping an archer on the back. "Come on, let's head back and fortify the sagekeep."
I looked at the spot where the Angel had been. Blackened ashes marked where buildings had stood around the area. Pieces of wood and brick lay strewn about the area. They killed it, I thought. They stopped the Angel. The city was saved. My heartbeat slowed as I stood to follow them. For all I knew, this was a normal day in Kant Vakt. Maybe it hadn't been an Angel. Weren't they supposed to wait for Vormund to fight the real Angels?
The cries of men behind me froze me in place. I looked back to see a bright flame rise up in the middle of them. The Angel had reappeared. He slashed at the nearest group of bordermen with his sword, batting them away. They fell to the ground, great smoldering marks creasing their armor. He lifted the ball
and chain again, slamming it into any soldiers who came too close. They fired their crossbows, but the bolts vanished before hitting their mark. A chaotic crowd of soldiers swarmed around me in their retreat.
I crouched behind the rubble and hid there, shutting my eyes, wishing the Angels would leave. Why were they attacking? What wickedness had we done to incur their wrath? I racked my memory for what the Angel in my vision had said. How were we supposed to change if no one knew what we were doing wrong?
When I opened my eyes, the Angel stood alone, unharmed in his personal blazing halo. I caught a glimpse of his face beneath the helm. It was every bit as beautiful as the face of the Angel from my vision, but different. Sad. I stared at the Angel, and the Angel stared back at me, taking slow, deliberate steps.
Tears streaked his radiant face, melting my terror into confusion. He'd just battered through dozens of soldiers. He'd burnt down buildings halfway across town. He intended to destroy us all. Why would he cry?
"Kaybree!" a voice called behind me. Rangir hooves pounded against the cobblestones. A young man dressed all in black galloped toward me on his rangir. He carried a huge tower shield in one hand and the reins in the other. He let go of the reins, holding onto the rangir with his legs, and held an arm out to me. "Grab my arm!"
He wanted me to grab the arm of a complete stranger? But he did know my name—like everyone else, it seemed. Plus he wasn't a fiery Angel ready to slice me in half. So I held out my hand and grabbed onto his arm as he rode past. He pulled me up behind him on the saddle, right as the Angel threw a plume of fire at us. The mysterious rider raised his shield. "Watch out!"
I ducked behind his body when I saw the flames coming at us, feeling a twinge of shame at the reflex. Fortunately for both of us, the shield blocked the wave of fire. It even protected our rangir; not an antler was singed. "Who are you?" I asked, though with my track record lately, I doubted he'd give me a straight answer.
He turned the rangir around and taking us away from the Angel. "I work with your mother," he said. We trotted past the fountain and headed along a row of buildings toward the sagekeep. "She sent me to find you. I'm Galen Valkegaard."
Galen. Now that I wasn't fearing for my life—as much—I could get a good look at him. He had sea-green eyes and coppery hair, and his jaw was set in determination as we rode. He had one of those faces that belonged in a storybook, a scarless knight riding to battle. He smelled of leather and metal. Even though the rangir jostled us as we rode, I found that I didn't mind being pressed against him.
I noticed the red Vormund crest embroidered on his surcoat, made of fine linen and a sable fur lining, as well as the white material of his shield. It looked familiar. "Your shield is a relic?" I blurted out. When he gave me a surprised look, I cleared my throat. "I mean, thank you for saving me, Lord Valkegaard. Is that shield a relic?"
"I'll explain when we're inside." The ground shook around us for a moment. He frowned and glanced back. "That Angel is probably trying to target us."
"Why us?" I asked.
He frowned. "Because you're the only real threat to him." He nodded to the fleeing peasants, scrambling to take cover in the sturdier buildings. "As long as he knows you're out here, he'll conserve his strength until he finds you. That should buy the people some time to get to safety."
"None of this is making sense," I said. "I—"
"No more talking until we're inside, Miss Andresdatter," he said, leaning low on his rangir. "Wouldn't want to chip a tooth while we ride."
I took his advice and stayed quiet. The streets we passed were deserted, with pieces of cloth and broken carriage wheels littering the road. Thankfully, I didn't see any bodies. Indeed, it appeared that the Angel was only after me. While that boded well for the people of the city, it wasn't exactly a comforting thought.
The sagekeep drew closer. So did the tremors. "We're almost there," Lord Valkegaard said. "Now when we get inside, I want you to go straight up to the tower and—"
His voice was lost in an explosive blast of flame.
Kaybree Versus the Angels Page 5