“She’ll be weak without the sea to draw on,” Cowley said.
“Not as weak as you think. Look.” There was a pond near the girl. The water in it was swirling and foaming, and the disturbance was spreading up- and downstream. The air around the girl began to glow. Soon after the grass and all the plants in a widening circle around the girl began turning brown.
The horses began to snort and throw their heads. They pulled against the reins, trying to get away.
“Does anyone else feel that?” Lukas asked. “It’s like there’s something inside me, trying to get out. And why am I so thirsty all of a sudden?”
“She’s not just taking power out of the stream,” Fen said. “She’s drawing it from all around her. Everything with water in it.”
The horses were growing ever more frantic. Gnath’s reared suddenly, and he fell off. The other two Ichthalids barely managed to dismount before they were thrown as well. Their horses bolted. Lowellin jumped off his mount a moment later.
Fen dismounted and handed his reins to Cowley. Cowley’s horse neighed and reared up, lashing at the air with its hooves. “Fall back. Whatever happens, don’t get involved.”
“You know I can’t—”
“That’s an order!” Fen snapped. “Even if I’m losing, don’t try to be a hero. Don’t get yourself killed for no reason.” His gaze traveled over the rest of the squad. “Promise me you’ll stay out of it.”
There were mumbled replies. None of them looked happy about it.
“Promise me,” Fen said.
Cowley said, “Just don’t lose, okay?”
“I don’t intend to,” Fen said grimly. “Now get out of here.” His squad mates rode away, and he turned back to the fight.
The Ichthalids spread out in a line facing the girl and began their attack. The air around them distorted, as if from the heat on a summer day, and orbs of crackling indigo power appeared above their palms. The orbs shot out in rapid sequence. Before they reached their target, the glow right around the girl grew stronger. The orbs struck the shield and exploded. The flash of the explosions was blinding, bright enough that the girl was obscured for a moment. The Ichthalids paused, waiting to see if their attacks had worked.
But when the flashes had faded, she was still there, her shield intact.
Before they could resume their attack, the girl dropped her shield and threw her arms forward. Whips of emerald power like tentacles lashed out, wrapping around S’nash and pinning his arms to his sides. The whips tightened, and he was jerked up into the air, then slammed hard against the ground, once, twice. Blood leaked from the corner of his mouth.
Thresh came to his rescue, unleashing a burst of chaos power at the whips, severing them. The power disappeared, and S’nash fell back to the earth. Meanwhile, Gnath resumed firing orbs of chaos power at the girl, forcing her to raise her shield once again.
She fell back a step, then another. She didn’t attempt another attack, putting everything she had into simply surviving. It was clear she wasn’t going to be able to hold out for long.
It was time to join the battle.
Fen started forward, wanting to get closer to the Ichthalids before he attacked. As he did so, he began drawing in Stone power. Lowellin, standing nearby, sensed it and turned.
“Don’t be a fool,” he snapped, holding up a hand for Fen to stop. “This isn’t the right time. Remember our agreement.”
But Fen was past talking. Lowellin was to his left. Fen’s right hand was shielded from the Shaper’s view, so he didn’t see the glow as Fen focused all his power in it.
“Here’s what I think of our agreement,” Fen said, spinning and punching Lowellin square in the chest with everything he had.
The blow could have shattered a boulder. Caught off guard, Lowellin was knocked flying, looking like he’d been shot out of a catapult.
Before Lowellin had even landed, Fen turned back to the Ichthalids. Lowellin was out of the way for at least a few moments, and he intended to make them count.
The Ichthalids were focused on Aislin and hadn’t noticed Fen’s approach. Fen drew deep on Stone power and then threw it forward. The ground between him and the enemy rippled upward in a wave that rolled toward them with frightening speed. Right before it got to them, Thresh looked over his shoulder and shouted a warning to the others, but it was too late for them to react in time.
The wave of earth struck, engulfing the three Ichthalids in a dense mound of stone and earth. Fen brought his hands together like he was packing a snowball, and as he did the mound formed into a large sphere which steadily grew smaller, crushing the Ichthalids. Fen gritted his teeth, putting everything he had into it. He knew it wouldn’t hurt them, but his hope was to incapacitate them, at least long enough for the girl to mount a counterattack.
Moments later lances of shimmering purple power shot out of the sphere in a dozen places. The lances vibrated, a shrieking sound coming from them.
The earthen sphere exploded.
The Ichthalids turned toward Fen. S’nash unleashed a searing wave of purple fire at him, but Fen managed to throw up a hasty shield of stone and earth and deflected it, the shield shattering in the process. Thresh and Gnath summoned orbs of chaos power and fired them at him. Fen drew on Stone power and manifested the glowing sword, slapping away two of the orbs and ducking the other two.
As he fought, Fen called the stone to him. Stones of all sizes ripped from the ground all around him and flew toward him. As they came, he shaped them, then packed them around his body. In moments he was completely encased in stone armor. More and more stones flew toward him, adding their mass to his armor until he was huge, a giant twice the height of a man.
S’nash launched another wave of purple fire, but it splashed harmlessly against the stone armor. Several orbs of chaos power struck him. Fen wobbled but took no damage except for the chunks of stone that flaked off and fell away, which he quickly replaced.
Fen crouched and slammed his fists into the ground. The ground bucked, and the Ichthalids were tossed into the air like rag dolls.
Cheers arose from Fen’s squad mates, watching from a distance.
While the Ichthalids were regaining their footing, the girl lowered her shield and began raining spears of ice on them. Gnath was spun around as one took him in the shoulder, passing all the way through and sticking in the ground. Thresh took one through the leg and was momentarily pinned to the ground by it.
A burst of chaos power from S’nash melted the remaining ice spears. Then he began hammering the girl with bolts of chaos power, forcing her to raise her shield and go on defense once more.
Thresh ripped the ice spear from his leg and turned to deal with Fen. His pale face showed surprise when he saw that Fen was running straight at him and was only a few paces away. Thresh just had time to throw up an arm before Fen swung a massive stone fist and struck him in the face. The force of the blow lifted Thresh off his feet and threw him backwards. In mid-air, Thresh managed to fire a line of power that lanced out from his hand and hit Fen on the shoulder. The line snapped taut, stopping Thresh’s flight abruptly. Thresh brought his other hand around and fired another line at Fen. This one struck Fen in the torso. Where the lines attached to Fen, sparks rose from the stone as the chaos power began to chew through it. Hand-sized pieces cracked and broke off.
Fen grabbed at one of the lines and tried to rip it free, but it sizzled and spat when he touched it, burning his hand even through the stone, and he had to let go. The lines began to branch out, spreading across his chest and shoulder like some bizarre growth. Where they touched, stone cracked and fell away.
By then Gnath had recovered enough to reenter the fight. From a crouch, he fired two lines at Fen. But instead of holding onto the ends, he let them go. They wrapped around Fen’s legs and began to tighten, sizzling and eating through the stone.
While this was happening, S’nash summoned an undulating wave of power and threw it at the girl. It sailed through the air and la
nded on the girl’s shield, draping over it like a net, almost completely covering it. Sparks and flashes of light arose as the chaos power began to eat through her shield. Desperately, she fed more power into it, but it was clear she was fighting a losing battle.
Fen tried to close on Thresh, to hit him again, but the lines wrapped around his legs tightened, and he toppled over. Gnath shot two more lines at him that snaked around his torso and his arms and began to tighten. Fen fought wildly, but the chaos power was having a curious deadening effect on him, and his limbs felt unbearably heavy. Stone power was plentiful all around him, but he couldn’t seem to make it obey him.
╬ ╬ ╬
Cowley and the rest of the squad saw Fen go down, and their cheering died out.
“I don’t care what he said,” Noah said. “I’m not going to stand here and do nothing.” He ripped out his sword and held it up. Around him the rest of Wolfpack squad did the same.
“Wolfpack!” Noah yelled, and charged.
Or tried to. He couldn’t move his feet. Neither could Cowley. He looked down and saw that his feet and ankles were encased in earth. Sounds of frustration arose from the rest of the squad as they realized the same thing had happened to them.
Lowellin came walking up, looking none the worse for the blow Fen had dealt him.
“Let me go!” Noah yelled. “I’ll cut you!” He waved his sword at Lowellin, but the Shaper was out of his reach.
“No, you won’t,” Lowellin said. “Even if you could reach me, which you can’t. You really are foolish, even for a human. You should be thanking me, you know. I’m saving your life. Do you really think you could harm them with your pathetic swords? Have you not been paying attention at all?”
“Let us go and we’ll find out,” Cowley said, fighting futilely to free himself.
“I’ll probably regret it, but no. I won’t let you go. You’d be dying for no reason. If killing them was as easy as shoving a sword through them, don’t you think I’d have already done it? I would have killed them all the first day.” Lowellin shook his head at their stupidity. “Even if you managed to stab them, the chaos power would simply heal their wounds.”
“We’ll see how well they heal after I cut their heads off,” Noah said. He was hacking at the earth encasing him now. He didn’t appear to be accomplishing anything.
“It might work, but probably not. Now, settle down, and let’s enjoy the show.” Lowellin looked off to the north suddenly. “What’s this?”
Cowley realized then that the sky to the north was filled with huge thunderheads, which was odd because the sky had been clear all day.
Lowellin’s eyes widened in surprise. “I didn’t expect to see him here. I didn’t think he’d make it back out of the clouds.”
Cowley squinted. He could barely see a small black dot silhouetted against the clouds. The dot was getting closer fast.
“This is really the most impressive timing, don’t you think?” Lowellin said. “I mean, look at our two heroes. They’re nearly defeated.”
It was true. Fen was down on the ground, a dozen of the glowing lines of chaos power wrapped around him, steadily eating through his stone armor. He was still fighting, but his struggles were weakening.
The girl could no longer be seen. Her shield was completely engulfed by the blanket of chaos power, the hissing and popping coming from it as it ate through her shield audible even from this distance. Her shield appeared to have contracted and was now so small it was unlikely she was still on her feet.
“This should be interesting,” Lowellin said.
Chapter 43
As he flew toward the commotion, Karliss saw a flash of purple light. A moment later a wave of power rippled outward and passed over him. There was something familiar about the power. A moment later he realized what it was.
He’d sensed the same power coming off the scarred man’s two black-robed companions, though not nearly as strong as this was.
Did that mean the Devourers were up ahead? But who were they fighting?
They had to be fighting one of the young people Firehair had spoken of, one of the ones Karliss was heading to Qarath to join up with.
There was another flash of green light, followed by purple. Karliss willed the aranti to fly faster, and soon he could see several groups of figures on the road. Closest to him was a small form crouched beneath a glowing, green shield that was almost completely obscured by purple energies that were slowly consuming it. Beyond her were three huge, white-skinned figures that could only be the Devourers. Chaos power flickered and spat from them. Near them was a stone creature that reminded him of Tharn. Purple lines were wrapped around him, and as Karliss watched, he toppled to the ground.
╬ ╬ ╬
The flying figure was close enough to make out now. It was a boy, a few years younger than Cowley and the others, his black hair and colored scarf flying in the wind.
“I’m glad now I didn’t kill him,” Lowellin said. “With his help they might actually beat the Ichthalids.”
Cowley whirled on him. “Why don’t you help them?”
Lowellin held up his hands. “Hey, ingerlings, remember? I’m not going the way of Golgath and Tu Sinar.”
“You don’t care about anything,” Lukas said.
Lowellin held up one finger. “Not true. I care about me. Which is why I’m waiting to see who wins. Then I’ll know which side to be on.”
“I hate you,” Lukas said.
“I can’t think of anything I care less about,” Lowellin said. “Stop wailing and let’s watch. This is going to be good, I think.”
The Ichthalids were still intent on Fen and the girl and hadn’t noticed the approaching figure. The clouds grew thicker and darker, building quickly to a terrifying dark mass. Thunder rumbled within their depths.
The whole sky was suddenly lit up as a dozen lightning bolts lanced down out of the clouds at once. S’nash staggered backwards as three struck him almost simultaneously, each one blasting away fist-sized chunks of flesh and bone. Thresh was blown off his feet as one hit him in the side of the head, tearing away his cheek. Gnath went to the ground, a gaping wound in his side.
The chaos power engulfing Fen and the girl flickered. Somehow, Fen managed to get one arm free. In his hand appeared the crimson sword, flames running up and down its length. He slashed, cutting through the lines wrapping around him, then climbed to his feet. Whole chunks of the stone armor fell away as he did so. Blood showed in more than one place. With a shout, he hurled himself at S’nash.
At the same time the girl acted.
There was a flash from inside the shield. Power exploded outwards, shredding the blanket of chaos power. Her small form was suddenly visible. She stood and advanced on the Ichthalids, hurling orbs of emerald power at them with each step. Gnath, trying to stand up, took one to the face and was hurled violently to the ground. He lay unmoving, his face a bloody mess. Another struck Thresh in the legs, throwing him back down and tearing one leg partially away.
S’nash got one arm up as Fen swung the flaming sword. The weapon sliced cleanly through it. The Ichthalid’s arm fell to the ground. Fen whirled and swung again, a blow S’nash barely managed to parry with a flash of chaos power.
All the while Karliss circled overhead, raining lightning bolts down on all three of them, most of them hitting their targets.
“I think they might actually win,” Lowellin said. “Who would have thought that?” He sounded like someone who truly didn’t care which side won.
But then S’nash yelled and from him came a flash of power that shoved Fen back, causing his next swing to miss. Instantly, S’nash dropped to one knee and raised his fist to the sky.
“Lazaria!” he shouted.
And the day changed. There was an instant in which everything seemed to freeze. It was like the color leached out of the world. Spitting tongues of black and purple flame spouted from the ground in a circle that encompassed all the combatants. The ground inside the circle rip
pled and became something else.
Now it looked like a smooth pane of black glass.
“And, now it’s over,” Lowellin said. “It was fun while it lasted.” He looked at Cowley. “This is why you don’t pick your side too soon.”
A column of incandescent magenta flame erupted from the ground, completely engulfing the Ichthalids, Fen, the girl and reaching up to swallow Karliss as well. Nothing could be seen within the maelstrom.
As quickly as it appeared, the flame disappeared. Fen and the girl collapsed. Karliss fell to the earth with an audible thud.
“You never know until the end how it will go,” Lowellin said.
“Let us go,” Cowley begged him. “We have to help our friend.”
“How? By dying? I really don’t see how that will help. No, for now I think I’ll keep you alive. You might still be useful later on.”
“When I get out of here, I’m coming for you,” Noah yelled.
“You don’t have enough enemies already? Now you want to fight me too? Are you sure about that?” Lowellin twitched his fingers. The earth around Noah’s legs tightened, and he cried out in pain. “I could as easily have crushed your bones to powder, you know,” Lowellin said. “That’s something you might want to keep in mind.”
He turned toward the Ichthalids. “Time for some damage control. I hope S’nash’s victory has put him in a good mood.” He started toward them.
“Is he dead?” Lukas asked Cowley, his voice cracking slightly.
Cowley was staring at Fen’s fallen form. The rest of the stone he’d armored himself in had fallen away. His skin was completely blackened. He looked very small lying amongst the shattered stone. Cowley could see no sign of movement. None of them were moving. “I don’t know,” he said. A sudden wave of grief rose up within him, choking him. It wasn’t supposed to go like this, was all that came into his thoughts, over and over again.
It wasn’t supposed to go like this.
Shadow Hunted Page 37