“You aren't going to try to seal that hatch, are you?”
Bobby reddened but returned the man's look steadily.
“No, I'm not. I just said that to reassure Sarah. But it's silly to think that the hatch will stop a drake, let alone two. It might slow them down for a few seconds, but what good would that do? They'd still catch the others in no time and then... Well, you know.”
“So what do you intend to do?” the shaman asked him.
“I'm going to stop them,” Bobby said simply.
He patted his sword-hilt.
“This weapon came to me for a reason, Magnus. It isn't just a toy. If I can stop the drakes here, the others will have a chance to survive, a chance at a future. With you to teach them and Sarah to protect them, they will prosper; I know they will. But if those two drakes get out of that tunnel,” he stared at the open hatch, “they will tear my people apart. You know that.”
“I do,” Magnus agreed gravely. “Sarah will be devastated,” he added.
Bobby felt a stab of pain, of grief.
“I know. But she'll be alive, Magnus, and that's all that matters. I...” He took a deep breath. “I love her, you know.”
The shaman smiled and put his hand on Bobby's shoulder.
“Everyone knows, my friend, including Sarah.”
Bobby blushed and ducked his head.
“I guess I'm not a very good actor,” he muttered.
“No one can hide real love, Bobby. Nor should they.”
“I suppose not.”
He extended a hand and the shaman shook it firmly.
“Well, I'll see you, Magnus. Close the hatch after I get down the ladder, just in case they do get by me. I'll try to buy you all as much time as I can. And hey, who knows? I might actually win.”
“You just might. But wait a moment.”
Magnus slipped off his backpack, pulled out a torch and waved it once in the air. It burst into flames and he handed it to a wide-eyed Bobby.
“Sarah isn't the only one who has the power to protect your friends,” he said with a smile. “If that helps to ease your mind.”
“It does. Thank you, Magnus. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye, my friend. And good luck.”
Bobby lowered himself into the hole, clumsy as he tried to climb with the torch in one hand. Once he had descended a few rungs, Magnus looked down at him, nodded once and closed the hatch, engulfing the tunnel in darkness.
Moving as quickly as he could, Bobby reached the bottom of the ladder. He took off his backpack, removed his sunglasses and put them inside of it. Then he tossed the pack aside, shifted the torch to his left hand and drew his sword.
“It's you and me now, buddy,” he whispered to it. “We have to stop these drakes to protect our friends. And to protect Sarah.”
He swallowed as he pictured his best friend's face one last time. Was Magnus right? Had Sarah known all this time how he felt about her? He had never said anything. Until they were almost grown up, he had thought of her as a little sister and nothing more. But in the last year or so, his feelings had changed. Well, that was all over now. At least Bobby was sure that she'd remember him. He could only hope that his sacrifice would save her and the others.
A distant scrabbling sound echoed down the tunnel, mixed with growls and grunting. The drakes were coming.
“Stubborn, aren't you,” Bobby muttered at them. “You should have stayed out of here; you might have lived longer.”
He widened his stance and waited.
The drakes must have been having a harder time getting through the tunnel than he'd expected, because it took a few minutes before Bobby saw the first one approaching.
It wasn't running, which was a relief to him. The hallway was still too narrow to allow more than one of the monsters to advance at once and even then, the drake's wide, heavy body was constricted, which made it only able to walk forward quickly.
Bobby's torch reflected back at him in the creature's eyes and it hissed like a gigantic snake when it spotted him.
“This is it,” he said.
He tightened his grip on the sword-hilt and raised the torch higher.
To his surprise, the drake stopped when it was still several yards away. Behind it, its companion growled angrily, but it couldn't get by the leader.
Bobby and the first drake glared at each other.
“Well? What are you waiting for?” he said loudly. “Your death is right here. Come and get it.”
The monster crouched down, slavering and spitting, its tongue darting in and out of its mouth like a huge snake.
It's going to leap right on top of me, Bobby thought fearfully.
A second before it pounced, he lifted the sword awkwardly.
“Help me, Nillanos!” he cried out just as the drake sprang at him.
To his complete shock, the sword suddenly blazed with blue light, a light that seemed to burn into the drake's eyes without harming his own. The monster screamed in pain as it shot toward him and tried to twist around in midair.
Bobby didn't hesitate. He slashed at the heavy body and ducked to the side at the same time. His glowing sword easily sliced through the thick scales and a gout of thick blood splashed over his legs. The drake squealed in pain as one of its forelimbs was severed and fell to the ground still grasping at the air.
The monster landed heavily and knocked Bobby back into the ladder. The impact dazed him and he dropped the torch as he grabbed the rungs to stop himself from falling.
The drake tried to slash at him with its remaining front leg, but its blood was pouring out of it in a gush and it only managed one feeble attack before collapsing in a heap at Bobby's feet. In the darkness behind it, the second drake pulled back in surprise. Apparently it was caught off-guard at seeing its pack-mate fall so quickly.
“Well, what do you know?” Bobby said with a little laugh. “That wasn't so hard.”
He was light-headed with a combination of shock and exultation. He'd never expected to even wound the monsters, let alone kill one.
With a grin, he looked down at the sword.
“Good job, buddy,” he said to it. “We make a good team.”
And that was when he noticed the blood on his t-shirt. It wasn't thick and black like the drake's blood. It was thin and bright red in the light of the sword and it was trickling down the front of his shirt from a slash across his stomach. It was his blood.
“How did that happen?” he said, puzzled.
As soon as he noticed it, Bobby was hit by a wave of pain rising up from his abdomen. Any hope he had that it was just a scratch was lost. He stepped back to lean against the ladder and avoided looking down again.
Doesn't matter, he thought desperately. I have to stop the other one. If I don't, even alone it will kill a lot of my friends.
He tried to straighten up and felt a stabbing pain in his guts.
“Okay, I won't do that again,” he gasped.
Bobby wasn't sure if it was his imagination or not, but it felt like the blood dripping from his wound was leaking faster. If that other drake didn't attack soon, he might pass out.
“Come on, you big baby!” he shouted at it. “What's the matter? Afraid of one little Changling?”
The drake stalked forward cautiously, stopping when it reached the corpse to give it a nudge with its nose. Then it looked at Bobby and snarled with fury.
“Yeah, that's right. I did that,” Bobby said, mocking it. “And you're next. So come on!”
The creature didn't need any more encouragement. It lowered itself to the ground preparing to leap and Bobby raised his sword.
“All or nothing, Nillanos,” he whispered. “All or nothing, buddy.”
The sword continued to glow, but its weight, which had been considerable, seemed to vanish. It was suddenly as light as a feather and Bobby smiled in spite of himself.
“Thanks,” he said gratefully.
And then the drake sprang straight at him, jaws gaping wide and claws unsheathed.<
br />
Chapter 23
The forest was blazing brightly in the sunshine. Birds were singing, squirrels were busily leaping from treetop to treetop and cicadas buzzed in the heat like tiny, invisible sirens.
The Changlings were following Miesha in single file through the trees. After spending even a short amount of time in the bunker, as a group they were happy to be out in the sunlight again, especially on such a beautiful day.
There was a lot of chatter, but they were wise enough to keep their voices low and none of the leaders felt the need to tell them to be quiet.
Sarah moved up the line, smiling now and then as she was greeted by the others, and briefly speaking to Eric, Rachel and Caroline as she passed them. She wanted to walk with Miesha at the front, just in case they ran into any surprises. So far, they had seen nothing in the sky and had heard no hunting calls from drakes or goblins. Maybe, for a change, they had gotten lucky.
“Everything okay?” she asked Miesha as she joined her.
The other woman nodded and pointed at the narrow path they were following.
“Yes. Luckily, this game trail is heading almost due west. I'm guessing that it was made by deer or some other herd animals. But whatever made it, we can follow it until it changes direction. Makes it easier for everyone to get used to hiking too.”
“Good point.”
Sarah looked over her shoulder at the line of Changlings snaking through the trees behind her.
“I don't know where we're going, exactly,” she told Miesha. “But we need to get as far away from Ottawa as possible. I predict a lot of long days and loads of blisters in our future.”
“Shh, don't spoil it yet,” Miesha replied with a smile.
The vertical slits in her green eyes were closed almost completely and she looked a little more exotic than usual. Sarah suspected that her yellow eyes looked pretty much the same.
“We'll have plenty of complaints soon enough,” the older woman continued. “So let's enjoy the journey while we can.”
Sarah grinned at her.
“I totally agree. As long as that damned dragon doesn't get wind of us, and Bobby manages to block that tunnel exit well enough to slow down those drakes, we should be fine.”
“Oh, is that where he is?” Miesha asked in surprise. “I was wondering. I'm so used to seeing him tagging along behind you that it's strange to see you by yourself.”
“Yeah, I know. Feels strange to me too,” Sarah told her. “But his idea made sense. There was no way to kill those evil things, so blocking the exit from the emergency tunnel was the best that we could do.”
“Block it? How? With farm equipment?” Miesha looked dubious. “Come on, Sarah. A drake weighs what, four or five hundred pounds? More? A few shovels and rakes piled on top of that hatch wouldn't be enough to block them. It wouldn't even slow them down.”
Sarah stopped abruptly and Miesha halted as well, staring at her. Behind them, the line bunched up as the Changlings bumped into each other trying to avoid walking into the two women. A babble of complaints rained down on them, but Sarah ignored them.
“My God, I'm so stupid,” she whispered. “Of course that wouldn't stop them. Damn you, Bobby!”
“Why? What's the matter?” Miesha asked, confused.
“You're right,” Sarah told her. “There's no way to effectively block that exit. Bobby lied to me. And Magnus must have known that he was lying. Oh, that man is going to answer for that.”
She turned around and began to run back down the line, dodging around the others as they stood on the trail and watched her streak past.
“Sarah, wait!” Miesha called after her. “What's going on?”
She didn't answer. Instead she saved her breath and ran as fast as she could through the brush along the side of the trail. She passed Eric without stopping, even though he shouted at her. She passed Rachel and Shane, Caroline, all the others. And when she reached the end of the line, she skidded to a stop in front of Magnus. He was standing there alone and met her furious gaze calmly.
“He stayed behind, didn't he?” she asked, breathing heavily.
“Yes, he stayed behind, Sarah,” the man replied evenly. “It was his choice. Bobby knew that we could not slow down the drakes; not really. So he chose to block their path and give you and the rest of us a chance to live.”
“You could have stopped him,” she snarled as sweat dripped into her eyes.
“He is an adult, my friend, and he made an adult's decision. I had to honor it.”
“Yeah? Well, to hell with you and your honor.”
She stepped around him and began to run again. She half expected that the shaman would try to stop her, but he did not.
Smart move, she thought bitterly.
They had been walking for less than half an hour and hadn't been moving very quickly, but the run back to the shed in the heat seemed to take forever. Sarah was gasping for breath and drenched in sweat by the time she emerged from the trees to see the small building.
Every second that she had been running, she'd expected to be confronted by the drakes. Remarkably, she hadn't seen any sign of them. Was it possible? Had Bobby actually stopped them? Alone? But if he had, then where was he?
She tried to catch her breath as she walked to the door of the shed, listening for any suspicious noises. But there was nothing except the sounds of nature. No footsteps or battle cries or screams. It was eerie.
Sarah opened the door and peered into the shadowy interior. The hatch was still closed and she was both relieved and alarmed. If Bobby had defeated the drakes, he should have been out of the tunnel by now.
She knelt down and wiped the sweat off of her palms before grabbing the handle on the hatch and lifting it with a grunt.
Below the top of the ladder was only darkness. Sarah drew her wand and willed it to light and then turned and slowly began to climb down the rungs, all of her senses on high alert.
Halfway down she stopped and twisted around, holding the wand out to light up the tunnel.
At first, Sarah couldn't quite figure out what she was seeing below her. There were the two drakes, definitely. They were twisted and intertwined in death. Their black blood was everywhere; on the walls, the floor, even on the ladder. It was a scene of carnage and the stench of death rising from the bodies made her gag. But where was Bobby?
It wasn't until she pointed her wand straight down that she saw him. He was lying with his back against the bottom of the ladder. His sword lay across his legs, no longer glowing with magic. Instead it was sticky with blood and looked quite unremarkable.
“Bobby!”
She climbed down the rest of the ladder, but had to jump off near the bottom to avoid stepping on him. She skidded on a puddle of blood and nearly slid into the hideous corpses. Somehow she managed to stay on her feet and she turned around to approach Bobby.
His chin rested on his chest and she saw several bloody slashes crisscrossing his torso. His arms were folded across his stomach and, if it wasn't for the blood, she might have thought that he was just resting. But he was too still and she couldn't tell if he was still breathing.
“Oh Bobby,” Sarah said as she knelt down beside him. “You did it. You beat them, all by yourself!”
She put a hand under his chin and gently lifted his head. A ragged gash across his left cheek was still oozing blood and Sarah felt tears rise in her eyes.
“You're a real hero, Bobby, just like in those stories we used to read.”
“Imagine that.”
She gasped as he opened his eyes slowly and raised his head a bit.
“Imagine that,” he repeated with a wan smile. “Me, a hero.”
“You are, Bobby. You really are.”
She smiled through her tears and shook a finger at him in mock anger.
“But what were you thinking? If the two of us had worked together, we might have taken them on without anyone getting hurt.”
“Maybe. But more than likely we would have gotten in each other
's way down here and both of us would have died.”
She shook her head at that answer. He was probably right.
“I hate it when you're being logical.”
He smiled and closed his eyes again.
“I know,” he murmured.
She reached out and stroked his uninjured cheek and Bobby's smile widened.
“Can you stand?” Sarah asked hesitantly. “You might be too weak to climb the ladder by yourself right now, but between the two of us...”
He opened his eyes again and the look in them confirmed her worst fears.
“I'm sorry, Sarah,” he said softly, “but I'm not going anywhere. I'm doing the best I can to keep my guts inside of me right now.”
She looked down at where his arms were folded over his stomach. They were shiny with blood and now she knew why.
“Oh my God.”
“I thought you didn't believe in God,” he teased.
“Depends on the situation, I guess,” she told him. “But if there is a God and He lets you die after you saved all of us, then He's no God of mine.”
“Stuff happens,” Bobby muttered as he looked beyond her at the dead drakes. “If someone had told me a week ago that I would kill two drakes all by myself with a magical sword, I would have laughed in their face. Well, I'm not laughing now.”
He shifted slightly and let out an involuntarily groan of pain.
Sarah winced and hunched down to look into his eyes.
“What can I do for you, Bobby? I have to do something!”
“You have to leave, Sarah,” he told her, his voice now so weak that she could barely hear him. “There are still monsters inside of the bunker. Wounded maybe, but still hunting. I'm sure that they will show up soon. So go on, rejoin the others, protect them. Do that for me and I'll know that this wasn't all for nothing.”
She stared at him in the yellow glow of her wand, watching his face slowly lose all of its color. He was fading fast.
“I'll protect them, Bobby, as best I can. But I'm not leaving you alone down here in the blood and the filth. I'll stay with you until...”
She choked on her words and he managed to open his eyes a bit, his lips twitching in a little smile.
The Changlings (The New Earth Chronicles Book 2) Page 33