32. She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain
She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain
Rez
Itumble out of the portal and land on my bad shoulder with enough momentum that my body slides across gravel until I slam hard into some boulders that knock the air out of me.
Fuck!
I roll onto my back, but the downpour of rain immediately assaults me, so I roll onto my good shoulder and try to catch my breath, coughing up a lung as I take stock of my injuries.
So far, just bruises, and my arm is still killing me, so I’m still in one piece, but the question is, where the fuck am I?
Using the boulders, I stand and try to make sense of the terrain I’ve landed in.
A chill runs down my back when I look to my left and notice nothing but stormcloud sky until I look down and see treetops.
I quickly back up until my back hits the wall, and I realize I’m on a rocky mountain path.
How the hell did I get here in the first place?
I search around, looking for the portal that brought me here, but I don’t see it.
Great. I’m on a mountain pass, with no portal, and I’m the only one in the group that doesn’t know how to read Ley lines well enough to find a portal.
“Do you see that portal you summoned?” Angel’s voice rings out, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
Oh, please no. Not while I’m injured. A faint blue light appears through the rain lower down the trail, and my heart starts beating against my chest. Going down the mountain isn’t an option now.
I turn and run my good hand against the mountain as I start moving up the trail as fast and safely as I can.
“No. It’s like it just disappeared,” someone whines.
“Damnit, Janika. What’s the point of having you here if you can’t just portal us out of here?” Serafin spats.
“Look!” Janika shouts. “I told you before, I have to be close to a portal or the border for me to cheat what the Fates set up. I don’t know why my damn portal disappeared, but the fact is, I summoned it,” she snaps, her voice echoing less the closer they get.
“Just give me a few. My magic is already low, and this terrain isn’t giving me much. ”
“I swear, you’re about as worthless as your entire family,” Emer complains.
Hearing their voices spurs me on to find a place to hide, or maybe I should take my chances and jump off this damn rock and see if one of my spontaneous powers is that I can fly.
I’m outmatched, overpowered, and I’m down a freaking arm.
As I move along the trail, lightning zips across the sky, brightening up the area, and I spot an opening to my left.
A cave? I don’t like not knowing what’s been in here, but I’ll take my damn chances.
Before ducking into the hole and disappearing, the Fates decide to fuck me one last time.
A lightning show displays in the sky in a brilliant fashion that highlights my entire area right as the Harpies from Hell are looking my way.
“Look what we got here,” Serafin purrs.
“Well, hello, Sentina. You look… perfectly lost, battered, and alone.” Emer smiles as her eyes turn black.
Fuck.
I duck into the cave, not caring if there’s an animal in here or not.
I would rather take my chances with the monsters I don’t know than the ones I do.
As I stand and look around during the sporadic lightning, the first thing I notice is that there’s no other way out of here.
I’m trapped. There are some advantages that I can use.
Larger rocks to hide around, or use as a shield, but really?
I’m screwed. Fuck! I need my damn powers.
I move behind the closest rock, which happens to be the widest, keeping my eyes on the entrance, and crouch down, taking off my sling.
As I carefully lay it down and reach for my glaives, I hear a snort as hot breath blows across the fine hairs on the back of my neck, making me pause, my heart leaping into my throat, and I freeze.
Shit. I really didn’t mean to take on a monster I don’t know. There are only a few options. Face this monster head-on, ignore it, and pray it ignores me too once I leave its area, or—
I don’t get a chance to even think of the next option as the rock I’m behind starts cracking and fracturing at a rapid rate.
Heat builds, and steam hisses from the surface before it bursts open, shattering into small pieces and flying in all directions. I cover my face as much as I can, but I still get pummeled by small pieces of stone as laughter fills the cavernous air.
“There you are,” Janika, the green-haired witch, says with a glee-filled smile, her horny toad sitting on her shoulder.
Pain shoots up my shoulder as I grab my glaives and activate them, standing up tall and trying not to waver.
I might be outmatched, but I’ll go out fucking fighting with what I have left.
Anytime now would be great for that super helpful voice to pop up and help me.
She was just telling what to do when the new portal showed up.
“Oh, this is priceless,” Serafin gloats, walking further into the cave. “How has God's Trumpet been treating you?”
“Do you feel as weak and sickly as you look?” Emer laughs as she leans against the entrance. “That color really doesn’t suit you. Janika’s toad has more color than you.”
“I can’t believe how easy it was to take you out,” Angel gloats. “It’s like you served yourself up to me in a fucking bow,” she chuckles. “I just wish you had done it sooner.”
“Yeah, you could have saved me the trouble of years without my man.” Emer hisses as she takes one step into the cave.
“Look at you,” she sneers. “You’re so weak, you can barely stand, let alone hold your weapons.
You really think you can defend yourself against us?
Remember, there are no rules out here.” A flash of lightning strikes, highlighting her malicious expression.
Fuck, maybe I am too weak even to hear my inner voice anymore.
“Getting rid of you opens all the guys up, and I don’t have to use my spells to cut the hold on them,” Serafin boasts.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I snap, backing up a little bit. Another rock is to the left of me that I can dodge behind if I need to.
“Oh my Fates.” Janika groans and runs her hand down her face. “Do you hear yourselves? This is why it takes you guys forever to get shit done,” she points out. “You're monologuing, just like bad guys, and allowing her to find ways to escape.”
Angel snorts. “There’s no way for her to leave. This is the only way out.” She points over her shoulder, and unfortunately, she’s right.
“The point is, if you’re here to kill her, then just kill her and stop messing around,” the green witch snaps.
I can’t make out Emers' expression, but I can imagine that if looks could kill, Janika would already be dead.
Janika scoffs and throws a fireball my way, and I grunt as it hits my bad shoulder, but I roll it across to my good arm and throw it back to the group, which sends them diving out of the way.
“Not so helpless, huh?” I throw out, completely faking the confidence I don’t have.
“Bitch!” Angel hisses as she gets up and pulls a knife. “I know for a fact that you’re hurt and weaker than you’re letting on.” She nods to Serafin as she pulls a weapon I’ve never seen before, but it looks like a modified Triton from The Little Mermaid.
“You’ll regret that,” Janika says, conjuring another spell and approaching me.
Angel and Serafin advance behind her as I let my right arm hang, hoping to get some feeling besides the constant tingling of pins and needles of pain back into it.
The burn of my shoulder is enough to make me cry, but I know I can fight through that; I just need to be able to feel my arm, to know I can control it.
As Angel and Serafin split to move to my sides, Janika stays in the middle as her yellow ball casts an eerie glow in the room.
Serafin and Angel don’t take Janika’s words to heart and continue to run their mouths, taunting and bragging while they continue to shuffle my way, taking it slow since they can’t see the floor.
Janika is about five feet away from me when her eyes dart to the right and go wide, and she freezes.
The eerie light starts to vibrate and shake along the wall, and I notice a dark stain forming down the inside of her pants.
Did she just piss herself?
A snort-like growl sounds behind my shoulder before thunder rumbles inside the cave, right as a tree branch pattern lights up along the floor. I turn in time to see a Thunder Stag rear back onto its back legs before slamming back down with its front hooves glowing.
Pain shoots through my head, causing me to squeeze my eyes shut against the blinding light as a scream rings out. It quickly dies out as the light recedes, and I open my eyes to see the stag next to me and Janika’s charred body lying in front of us.
“Shit,” Serafin cries. “T-t-that’s a Thunder Stag,” she stutters, turning and running out of the cave.
“Janika?” Emer’s eyes go wide as she stands at the entrance of the cave before she meets mine. She doesn’t say anything else before turning and running to catch up with Serafin.
My eyes fall back onto Janika’s body as my mind struggles to comprehend what happened when I feel a push against my back and a soft growl rumbles against me, like familiar purring.
Basilicus. The young thunder stag I helped mend in the menagerie when Lynx was missing.
Bas.
I haven’t seen him since he saved me in Ever Woods back with the Abuhuku shifters, and I fell to Hell shortly after that. He has gotten so big, with his shoulders as tall as mine; he easily towers over me. How did I even miss him in this cave?
Searching what’s left of the chaos, I notice I’m not the only one still shocked by her corpse.
“Did you still want to take me on? Especially by yourself?” A little cockiness slips out as I watch Angel finally realize she’s alone with a predator bigger than her.
Color drains from her face as she stumbles back a step or two and turns to chase after the others out of the cave. As soon as she’s out of sight, my body breaks out into a mess of trembling limbs as I try to hold myself up.
“I’m okay, it’s just adrenaline,” I tell Bas as he walks up to me, prompting me to lean against him.
“Thank you.” I slip my glaives back into their holders and properly give him a kiss and hug, as best as I can with my one arm.
Now that I have a moment to breathe, I take in Bas’s warmth and wonder what to do next.
I’m separated from my group, and I’m probably back in the Ever Woods.
I hope the guys are okay in Hell. I’m sure with JP’s and Moni’s status, they are doing okay and flying through the next stage. I send love and comfort through my link with Knox to let him know I’m okay, and feel good vibes flood back down our link.
Tears well up behind my eyelids as a sudden giddiness hits me.
My family seems okay, according to what I feel from Knox, and I don’t know how Bas ended up in my path, but I’m so glad he’s here.
He saved my ass once again. My small reprieve is short-lived as he backs away and shoves his nose into my stomach.
“Easy, buddy. Just tell me what you want?” I urge, reaching down for my sling and slipping it back on.
I turn to find him at the entrance of the cave and sigh.
“Are you going to get me back to where I belong?” I give Bas a cocky look, and I get a snort for an answer.
Hopefully, he’s taking me back to the portal to Hell so I can catch up with the rest of my group.
The rain hasn’t let up, but at least I don’t have to worry about the trail; Bas’s hooves light up the ground, and I take hold of his fur as we continue up the mountain.
Wasn’t the portal at the bottom of the mountain? Maybe it’s on the other side of this one. We continue through the rain for a few more minutes until he stops and turns towards me, stomping his hoof and lighting up the ground.
“Okay, Bas. I get it. We’re here, but where is here, and what do you want me to do next?” I ask, pushing my wet hair out of my face as the pregnant sky starts to ease.
His head swings towards the mountain, and he moves closer before he slams his hoof down once again, revealing a small crevice in the mountain wall big enough that I might be able to squeeze through if I turn and side-step through.
“You’re kidding me,” I groan as I look at my fierce protector.
He lowers his antlers in a menacing manner, and I frown at his first display of aggression towards me. Okay, he’s not playing, and apparently, it’s important for me to go in here.
Raising my hand in surrender, I lower my head and apologize.
“I’m sorry, Basilicus. You know I didn’t mean to offend. Thank you for guiding me in my hour of need.” I look up and catch him giving me the side-eye before snorting, and I can’t hold back the laugh before hugging him. “Okay, I have no choice but to trust you.”
To squeeze into the stones, I pull my arm out of my sling and let it hang to the side before beginning my slow slide through the dark crevice.
The rough stone scrapes against my chest and arms as I inch my way through, not seeing any light or sounds the further I go.
Either the air is thinning out, or I’m running out of it, as it’s becoming harder to breathe. I pause as I assess my situation.
I still have room, not much, I can still shift my boots back and forth to hit the walls, and my ass is hitting both walls, same as my chest, and my arms still can shift. So, by all calculations, the walls aren’t getting smaller, so why is it feeling like it’s getting harder to breathe?
Okay. Take normal breaths and focus on moving, Rez. You can do this.
I continue moving until there’s a section where it feels like a film I’m pushing against. Like a very thin plastic.
It’s not hard, but I can tell the difference when I cross over, because the temperature drops, and a chill runs down my spine.
Not only am I having problems breathing, but now I’m wracked with chills.
A few more steps, and my foot slides out between the walls, only to a wider opening.
My body follows, but I still can’t see anything in the pitch-dark room.
Turning to have the crevice to my back, I face the space and tentatively raise my good arm out to feel if there’s anything in front of me.
“Hello?” I take a small step, leaning forward in hopes of finding a wall, but instead I find no floor to hold my weight, and fall into a dark abyss.