Fall of Igneeria: The Half-ling

by Kaylee Soderburg

  Emily and Jason dashed back to our sides as the shadow became a body. It was bigger than the dragon we had rode. It had the body of a huge cockroach but its tail was a giant stinger. Large, bat wings were holding it up in the air.

  “What is it?” I asked. I turned to Emily and said, “Emily, you know anything about this creature?”

  She looked pale. “It's saying, 'Kill half-lings, kill and eat.'“

  “Well, you better tell it that it's going to have to starve this time because it's not going to be eating anything,” Seth said confidently and held his sword out.

  She shook her head. “There is no way that I'm going to say that.”

  “Jazell, can you see its weakness?” Seth called to me.

  I squinted at the creature, and saw a dark circle under its belly. “It's under its belly, but you have to get by the stinger first. That might cause us a problem.”

  “No problem,” Seth replied and swung his sword in an ark. “We’ll just cut off the stinger.”

  “Seth it’s not that simple…” I said but he ignored me. Ug, the nerve of that boy.

  “Jason, try to hit its face,” he instructed. “Emily, knock it off balance.”

  “Can I skip while I do it?” Emily asked.

  He gritted his teeth. “Fine.” He turned to me. “Jazell, you’ll aim for the belly while we hold it off. If you can’t get an arrow in before I can cut off the stinger, then I’ll have to do it myself.”

  “Fine boss dude,” I said with a snort.

  Seth ducked and charged the creature, his sword held out behind him. Jason flicked some knives into his wrist and flung them at the creature. Some hit their mark, which was signaled by the creature roaring out in pain, others fell into the dirt. Emily danced close to it, spinning fire from her fingertips. The creature raised a leg and swatted at her but she just twirled away. The stinger narrowly missed Seth, and I saw him stumble back in surprise. He swung his sword at the stinger. It sliced through and the creature screeched so loud I was afraid everyone would hear it. The stinger fell on the ground and dark blood oozed from the cut.

  “Now Jazell!” Seth yelled to me.

  I notched an arrow and took aim at the thrashing belly. I pulled the string back and released it. The arrow whizzed through the air and sunk into the creature’s belly. It shook and fell to the ground. Seth ran from underneath it right before it crushed him. He turned around and studied it.

  Then there was a horrible sound, like ripping metal. The belly of the creature seemed to open up and winds picked up. Seth threw down his sword as the wind sucked at him. He tried to keep himself from being pulled in. I ran up to him with Emily and Jason right behind me. The winds were so powerful I started to slide toward the body, before I was even close enough. Seth’s knuckles were white in the effort to hold himself down.

  “Get back,” he ordered. “Get back or we’ll all-”

  He didn’t get to finish his sentence because his sword came loose and we all we’re sucked into the black void of the creature.