The hellion stopped as if it had heard me. It looked up, its eyes slowly scanning the cliff edge. And then it saw us. Really saw us.
The thing raised up on its hind legs, looking for a moment like some kind of demon gorilla. It extended a single, clawed finger and pointed directly at my heart.
“Destroy the Realm Keepers!” it boomed, its massive voice reminding me of the dragons as it echoed throughout the whole valley. “Feast upon their flesh! Tonight is the doom of man!”
Then it fell back onto its front limbs and began a rapid, loping run straight for the cliff below us.
“What the holy hell?” I screamed, hearing and not caring as my voice shattered like a glass window.
Miles was a bit more collected, but not much. “Since when can those things talk?” he said.
Melaine seized his arm and began to pull him back from the cliff’s edge, while Darren did the same to me. “They grow smarter as they grow older, my Lord,” said Darren. “They haven’t been seen in centuries, but if they’re allowed to grow very old, they’re terrible, terrible foes, as cunning as they are powerful.”
“This one does seem to be a cut above, however,” said Melaine. Rather than scared, she merely sounded annoyed.
This isn’t how this was supposed to be, I thought desperately. This fight should have been happening on Wyrmspire, with us planning strategy from the mini-Runehold in the mountain peak and an army of dragons at our command.
Sarah ran up to us, and suddenly I heard the flapping of wings up above. Raven came in for a hard landing, Ella’s legs curling beneath her as the falcon screeched in annoyance.
“What was that voice?” said Sarah, looking at the two of us. “Is everyone all right?”
“Step up to the edge and see for yourself,” said Miles, his voice shaking.
“Don’t bother,” said Raven, shooting Miles an acid look. “It’s a hellion. It can talk, somehow.”
“They’re getting older and smarter,” I said, answering Sarah’s confused look. “Which, I think we can all agree, is the one thing the hellions needed—more brains.”
Sarah ignored Cara’s restraining hand and ran to the edge of the cliff. She turned back to us with hard eyes and her shoulders set. “It’ll be here in a few seconds!” she barked. “Come on, guys, we’ve taken out dozens of these things. We’ve got this. Everyone get up here and hit it with everything you’ve got.”
I looked around. “Wait, where’s Blade? Hellions hate fire. We should have him.”
Sarah gave an uneasy glance over at the right side of the plateau. I looked in that direction and saw a distant, orange explosion of fire. “I haven’t called him over yet,” said Sarah. “I didn’t want…”
Her eyes drifted above my head to the side of the mountain behind me, where Nora was watching over Tess. Suddenly I understood. If Blade came over, he’d wonder where Tess was, and he’d go ballistic. No telling what he’d do.
“Okay, let’s do this,” said Raven. “See you in a few.” She spurred Ella, who leapt into the sky as a rush of air threw my hair back.
We stood at the cliff face in a single line like a battle formation, and together we cut loose. But almost immediately I began to realize that this wasn’t going to be as easy as we thought. Sarah shot javelins of rock from the ground, but the hellion leapt out of the way like it saw them coming. Miles’ spikes and exploding globes of ice simply absorbed into the thing’s roiling black flesh. Raven’s bolts of lightning were too quick to dodge, but they just made the thing shudder for a moment. It looked up in the sky, its crooked fangs bared in a roar, and puked out a gout of pure Chaos at her. She wheeled just in time and sped away to get back to a safer firing distance.
The hellion bounded up to the bottom of the cliff with two last great leaps and jumped, sinking its clawed hands deep into the rock.
“Sarah, go!” I shouted.
Sarah clenched her hands into fists and twisted them. I saw the rock around the hellion’s claws explode outward in a shower of razor-sharp shards. Men and Shadows all around were shredded by the shrapnel. But faster than it seemed possible, the hellion punched its claws back into the cliffside. Sarah growled in frustration and pushed out a solid pillar of stone, ten feet wide and straight into the hellion’s gut, trying to knock it off the wall. But the pillar didn’t even hit the hellion—it twisted away like a snake and kept climbing.
“Not enough, little morsels,” it growled as it kept coming. “Prepare for oblivion.”
“Okay, I don’t think I’m alone when I say that I miss the quiet ones!” I shouted. With a blast of Air I fired myself up, flitting out over the edge of the cliff. Hovering there with a clear line of sight, I formed a solid plate of air right above the hellion, keeping it from climbing. The hellion’s head struck the barrier, and my whole body shuddered. I almost lost my balance on the jets of wind that were keeping me afloat, but I steadied myself.
The hellion growled in frustration and withdrew one hand from the cliff wall. It drew back, then swung at the barrier with all its might. But I let the barrier drop away at the last second, and the hellion overcompensated with its swing, flailing wildly and nearly losing its grip on the rock. Sarah pushed out another column, and this time it connected. The hellion flew out away from the plateau, and for a second my heart soared.
But then it twisted once again, and its claws sank into the very pillar Sarah had used to push it away, and with two great bounds it leapt the rest of the way up the cliffside and onto the plateau. The others barely had time to scramble out of the way before the hellion came down on all fours, roaring in anger.
“Not long now,” it said, terribly amused. It swiped at Miles, who was closest, but Melaine got her shield in the way. The hellion’s claw hit her full on, flinging her away to land hard on the rock behind Miles. He nearly stumbled over himself as he ran out of striking distance. But he and Sarah were still too close, much too close. If the thing pounced, it would have them.
I jetted down and right in front of the hellion’s face. Almost immediately I was overcome with putrid breath. It wasn’t just the smell of blood, and death, either. It smelled wrong somehow, like something that shouldn’t exist in nature.
Of course, Chaos wasn’t exactly nature.
“Holy cow, you’re ugly,” I said. “You must hate looking at yourself in the mirror.”
I formed a solid, invisible spike of air and shoved it right into the hellion’s left eye.
The thing reared up and clutched at its face with both claws, screaming so loud that I thought my eardrums would burst. For a half second I thought I’d managed to really damage it. But its claws struck out a moment later, and I barely blasted myself away in time. When the hellion managed to open its eyes again, they both looked unharmed, glowing just as fiery red as ever.
“Insolent little appetizer,” it growled. “For that, you die first.”
It puked forth Chaos, and I spun to the right to avoid it. When I’d fought hellions before, there had been a whole process before they puked out Chaos. It took them a while of hacking, like a cat with a hairball, and it had a distinctive sound. Looked like that advantage was gone. I’d have to be careful.
But I still had to keep it away from the others. I jetted for its face, flipping aside to miss it at the last second as its teeth snapped shut in the air where I’d just been. I zipped in, out, and around it, taunting it by how close I let its claws get. Meanwhile, I saw spikes of ice and earth blast into it. But they were never enough to hurt it. Sarah drove a javelin of stone through the thing’s gut, and the Chaos morphed out and enveloped the rock, sucking it in like an amoeba.
“Come on, ugly!” I shouted as I swooped even closer to its grasping claws. I had it off-balance, twisting and turning as it fought to get a bead on me. I rocketed toward its back legs and struck at them with an invisible club of air, knocking it down on its haunches for a moment. “Just shut up and die already!”
I was just zooming over its back when a tentacle of Chaos e
rupted from it. The appendage shot up so fast I had no time to dodge, striking me full in the face like a baseball bat. Stars exploded in front of my eyes, and I lost my grip on the Air that supported me. I flew wildly to the ground, bouncing from the stone and rolling a good ten yards.
“Oh, ow,” I whimpered. I flopped onto my back. Good. That meant that maybe not every bone in my body was broken.
The hellion turned slowly, deliberately, and took a relentless step toward me. Sarah gave a shout and tried to distract it with a wall of rock, but the hellion crushed it like it was made of kindling. It had promised that I would die first.
We need a dragon, I thought desperately. A dragon could kill it. It’s too powerful now. We need them.
The treaty. The prophecy. All of it falling to ruin. Everything about to end, just like it looked like I was about to end with this creature having me for a snack.
The hellion loomed above me, and lifted its head slightly to suck in a deep breath of air. Taking its time, enjoying the torment in my eyes. The horrible, rasping sound of its breath filled my ears.
Oh, duh, I thought. I’m an idiot.
I blasted Air from my hands as hard as I could, rocketing myself flat along the ground just as a gout of Chaos splattered across the ground where I’d lain a moment before. I’d been planning my escape already, but it wasn’t until the hellion had taken that breath that I’d realized what we had to do.
I spun in midair and darted for Miles, but I nearly lost propulsion as my leg screamed in agony. I hoped it wasn’t broken, but either way I wouldn’t be standing on it tonight. I flew right up to Miles and hovered right in front of him as he looked at me, confused.
“I’m about to open that thing up,” I said quickly. “When I do, you fill it with water.”
He opened his mouth to answer, but before he could I shot straight into the sky. I saw Raven wheeling above me on Ella’s back, taking potshots at the hellion and doing whatever she could to help along the rest of the line.
“Thought you were toast, squirt,” she called as I flew up.
“Miles is about to give you a perfect opportunity to light that thing up!” I shouted. “You’ll know it when you see it!”
Then I dropped the Air beneath my limbs and went into free-fall, plummeting toward the earth and the hellion whose open jaws waited for me. It roared as I flew straight for it, its neck straining as it craned up to reach me.
And then, ten feet above its head, I stopped dead in the air. I shot out a column of wind, solidified it, and pushed it into the hellion’s mouth, down its throat, and into its guts. The hellion’s burning eyes shot wide in shock.
I grimaced and panted as I pushed the air as far as it would go, forcing it into every crack and crevice. It was hard—every dark, corrupt muscle in the hellion’s body resisted the intrusion. But I was the Keeper of Air. And air did what I told it to do.
“Smart, but not that smart, ugly,” I called out. “Miles!”
Water materialized, pulled from the moisture in the air, and poured into the hellion’s forced-open mouth. It tried to pull its head away, but the air I’d spread through its body held it firmly in place. My muscles strained as I solidified my grip, restraining its head and neck while its legs scrabbled uselessly at the ground.
The tidal wave blasted through the hellion and deep into its guts. And just as the last drop passed between its lips, the sky above crashed with thunder as lightning lit up the night. But rather than flashing in and out like natural lightning, Raven’s electricity strengthened, grew, arced like a power reactor gone out of control. Then it all suddenly came together in the sky and shot down and into the hellion’s open mouth as a thick pillar of crackling energy. The hellion’s body spasmed uncontrollably. It collapsed on the ground, its jaw snapping open and shut and its limbs twitching. Slowly, the red light in its eyes went out.
Finally I released my grip on the air in the hellion’s body, and the water gushed out of it in a miniature torrent. Where it spread across the rock, it was black and corrupt and hissed evilly. Miles sank to his knees on the ground, his shoulders sagging with relief.
“Whooo!” I shouted. But then I felt the weariness settle into me as well. I jerked in midair, suddenly unstable, and began to lower myself gently to the ground. Raven swooped down beside me.
As soon as my feet met earth, I remembered my injured leg and cried out. I nearly fell, but Darren got there first. He took my arm and wrapped it around his shoulders, holding me up almost on his own.
“Well done, my Lord,” he said quietly. “Even if I could not be there to guard you.”
“That was the bravest thing I have yet seen you do, my Lord Calvin,” said Cara, smirking at me from beside Sarah. Her helmet was off, and her white blonde hair glinted in the moonlight like some fairytale creature. The light in her eyes danced as she shook her head at me. “And you only half-killed yourself to do it.”
“Well, glad it worked,” I said. “Otherwise that might not be a half.”
“Seriously,” said Raven, holding tight to Ella’s neck as if she might keel over and slip from the saddle. “I put everything I had into that.”
Thoom. Thoom.
My head whipped toward the edge of the cliff. “No,” I whispered.
Thoom. Thoom. Thoom-thoom, thoom-thoom-thoom, thoom-thoom-THOOM-THOOM-THOOM
Darren hauled me to the edge of the cliff, the others limping alongside. And we saw them, coming down the cleft toward the plateau. Hellions. More of them. Two, to be exact. And then another appeared between the mountain ridges at the other side of the flat land below. Three, and maybe more coming.
“It’s impossible,” I whispered. “There’s no way.”
“Oh, come on,” said Raven. “Was there ever? Even without them, how were we ever going to get out of this valley?”
Sarah hadn’t moved since she’d seen the hellions, and her eyes didn’t falter as she stared them down. She began to speak, her voice slow and deliberate. “There’s always a way. Always a way—a choice, some option. Even if it’s just how you die.” Then her eyes found me and Raven. “Or who’s going to live.”
“What?” said Raven. “You’re joking.”
“I’m not,” said Sarah. “If things go south, Raven, you and Calvin need to get out of here.” She glanced back over her shoulder. “And Raven, take Tess with you, too. You’ll have to tie her to the saddle.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” said Raven.
“That goes double for me,” I said.
“I’m not telling you to leave,” said Sarah, her mouth set in a firm line. “Not now. I’m saying that you two are the only ones who can take off whenever you want. So keep fighting, but stay safe. Out of reach. And if it does turn out bad…if we don’t make it to sunlight…you two, at least, need to go. So that the barrier doesn’t fall, and Midrealm lives on.”
I glared at her. “There’s got to be another way. Some way to win.”
Sarah shrugged. “You’re the genius, cuz. If you think of something, you let me know. Until then, we keep fighting the way we know how.”
I stomped my foot, then nearly screamed because I’d forgotten that it might be broken. I used Air to push myself away from Darren and hover again, lessening the agony in my knee.
Inspiration seized me. “I’m going to find Greystone!” I shouted. “He’ll think of something!”
“Go,” said Sarah. “But be quick. We might need you to help pull that trick again when the hellions make it here. Everyone, focus on one hellion at a time. We’re toast if we split up. That one on the left—”
She began to give orders. I turned away and sped off along the battle line, looking for Greystone. Finally finding him near the right side. I flew to a halt right in front of him, Darren appearing beside me a moment later.
Immediately I knew something was wrong. Greystone’s face was twisted with pain. His breath came in ragged gasps. He was staring out into the darkness below the plateau, and every time his body twitched he grunte
d like it caused him agony.
“Greystone, what’s wrong?” I said, scanning his body for an injury. “Were you hurt?”
“Terrence,” he said through his grimace. “Since Lady Tess fell, I have been locked in a battle with him.”
“Holy cow!” I said, impressed out of my dread. “You can hold him off by yourself? Dude, you’re way stronger than you give yourself credit for.”
Despite his pain, Greystone’s brows came together to glare at me. “I am not alone, you nitwit. Yinnilith and Meridia stand with me. But the three of us together may not be enough. We weaken, but Terrence does not.”
“Well, that’s not the only problem,” I said, now feeling bad for bringing this to him. “He brought hellions. We killed one, but at least three more are on their way here right now.”
Greystone gave a frustrated growl, then winced like it had hurt. “Where are dragons when we need them,” he said, echoing my thoughts from earlier. “This is what I get for trusting the six of you on a mission of diplomacy. I am a greater fool than even I realize. Six children! And dragons!” He gave a short, pained little laugh.
“Yeah, well,” I mumbled, studying my boots. “We did our best.”
“You did not,” said Greystone, suddenly serious. His eyes grew clear despite the pain, and they fixed on mine. “You have not done your best. Not yet. Tonight will be your best.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Lord Calvin, the prophecy is real,” he said, speaking low and urgent. “It is true. You six are not meant to perish here, this far away from home, all alone. You will survive. You are the Realm Keepers. And you have friends. I am positive that your gifts will be up to the task.”
Gifts. Something in the back of my mind began to scream. Gifts, gifts, gifts. Gifts of our alliance. Longtooth had said it over and over again at Wyrmspire. And every time, I’d wondered what he was talking about.
“Greystone,” I said quickly. “What were the gifts of our alliance with the dragons?”
Wyrmspire (Realm Keepers Book 2) Page 72