Chapter 14 Flawless Victory
Flawless Victory
Valerius dove deep. He wasn’t sure if the water would quench the plasma or if it would simply fall into the water untouched. Then again, even if the water did quench it, how hot would the water get?
So he dove deep.
Deeper.
Deeper.
His lungs burned and there was pressure in his head.
Only when those two things became almost unbearable did he stop his downward strokes and twist his body around to look up towards the surface.
The plasma ball had destroyed a large section of the narrow pathway that ran along the lake.
If he had not jumped, he would have disintegrated with the stone.
A wash of hot water rushed down upon him as the plasma ball was quenched.
The icy pool became as hot as bath water.
He stroked up towards the surface, but at an angle away from the path and out deeper into the pool.
The stone was still glowing hot where the plasma ball had “bitten” into it.
He did not wish to risk getting burned. But there were other dangers too in going farther out into the middle of the pool: the Dragons.
Just as he was about to reach the surface and take a grateful gulp of air, a wave of pressure lifted him up until his face kissed the water’s surface. He took a huge draught of oxygen just before a wave washed over his face and pushed him under again. He opened his eyes.
He was just a few feet from the water’s surface and the pool’s depths were dark.
The few construction lights that ringed the pool cast off only an ugly yellow light that did not pierce the darkness.
So Valerius could only see the two Dragons fighting--rolling over one another again and again--in pieces as they drew nearer to him.
Mephous’ membranous wing with the sharp point on the end.
Vozyth’s tail with the three spikes, one larger than the next with the largest at the very end looking more like a stalagmite than a spike.
Mephous’ mighty green back studded with bony plates.
Flashes of Vozyth’s glowing purple eyes.
Lungs burning again, Valerius forced himself to look away from this fight of the titans and rise to the surface.
He gulped in huge mouthfuls of air even as the waves the two battling Dragons made lifted him and sent him spiraling down.
Their fighting had the effect of a tide on the water.
As Valerius stroked fiercely towards the shore, he would be pulled back several feet as the dragons’ bodies affected the water.
The doorway that Valerius aimed to get to was directly in the path of the raging Dragons.
But the safest route, one that would get him onto the path again, was not terribly safe either.
The pool’s surface that had been still almost like ice was now choppy with waves.
They slapped over the sides of the path and were starting to eat away at the slender length of ground.
By the time he made it to a section of path that part might be gone.
Besides, the Behemoth now knows Illarion is here. It likely realizes that I am not far behind.
Valerius thought that the Behemoth would not dare kill Caden until it had absorbed Iolaire fully for fear that it would harm the White Dragon Spirit.
Not that it cared about hurting Iolaire, but that would weaken its power.
So Valerius hoped with everything he had that Caden’s physical form was all right for a little while longer.
Valerius ducked his head under the water and opened his eyes.
He wanted to see exactly where the two Dragons were in relation to him.
They appeared to be fifty-feet down below him.
A wing, a tail, an arm might rise up higher than that, but still there would be a good ten feet between him and them even if that did happen.
He decided to risk it and simply swim the rest of the way across to the tunnel mouth.
Determined to get across, he pumped his arms and legs against the swells and headed towards the tunnel that would, hopefully, lead him to Caden.
Maybe, just maybe, by the time he found the young man’s body, Raziel and the young man would have saved Iolaire from the Behemoth and Caden would awake in his arms.
Will I know when Raziel and Caden free Iolaire? Will there be some sense of that triumph before Raziel returns to the lair?
He tried not to let the scream that once again lodged in his throat escape him with the thought that both Raziel and Caden were going up against the Behemoth without him, without the other Dragon Spirits and their Shifters.
That hole in his heart was where Raziel and Caden should be.
He tried to tell himself everything would be all right as he cut through the water.
Even as waves crashed over his head, he could see Landry and her two brothers seated now on some of the huge boulders, swinging their legs and simply looking around, waiting.
Jasper Hawes paced in front of the “mirror” like a trapped animal.
He kept looking up into it. He would have seen Valerius struggling in the water.
His human body was so much weaker without Raziel. His arms strained. His leg muscles were knotting. His back and shoulder muscles bunched. He would never complain about any physical activity again! He would enjoy every second of his strength.
Suddenly, there was a swell beneath him. He looked down and saw a ruby back rising up in the water beneath him. Mephous and Vozyth had rolled over with Vozyth now on top for the first time. And she had seen him.
Glowing purple eyes glared up at him from the darkness as she twisted her long, sinuous neck around.
She removed one of her forelimbs from Mephous' chest and snatched up at him.
The clawed hand came at him with the speed of a freight train.
Valerius felt his heart drop into his feet.
He drew himself into a ball and rolled in the water away from her grasp.
Pain bloomed along his back and left hip. It felt like a dagger was being dragged over his flesh. The water was too dark to see it turn red from his blood. But he felt the heat of it leaving him.
He had completely misjudged how deep they were or perhaps how deep they would stay. The tip of her claw had sliced him open as easily as a knife through paper. He gasped at the pain of it and sucked in water. He gagged and his body jerked, his limbs flailing uncontrollably, as he started to drown.
That clawed limb slashed towards him. Valerius would not be too ashamed to admit that he wailed internally as he saw it coming.
He was naked. He had no armor. He had no hide.
He had no weapons. It was going to cut him in half.
But then a green wing swept through the water and appeared between him and that red clawed limb.
The membrane was cut and he heard a watery roar from Mephous. It echoed in his ears.
Valerius frantically ripped his hands through the water to reach the surface. His head broke through and he vomited water out of his mouth and lungs. His body hitched. He had to swim away from the titanic bodies, but he was unable to move. He was practically unable to stop from sinking!
Cannot fail Caden. Definitely cannot do it in front of Illarion!
He looked down and saw a huge green back with two wings outstretched.
They touched the two sides of the pool. The spikes scraped along the stone walls before Mephous had a chance to draw them in tight against its massive body.
They spun around again and Vozyth was on top and she was reaching for Valerius once more.
He drew in a lungful of air and shot towards the shore.
Illarion, keep her down! Valerius prayed.
There was another swell of water, but this time he could take advantage of it.
It lifted him and he rode it towards the tunnel.
A red tail cut through the water behind him.
Those three spikes! He could easily imagine them sinking into his back, pinning him to her red tail.
He imagined looking down and seeing those bony spikes poking through his chest as his life’s blood ran out.
And he imagined her drawing that tail down into the deep, him still attached, as he watched his blood stream by his face as he bled out and drowned at the same time.
At the last moment, he dove and rolled to the side. The tail stopped though. He looked down and saw that Mephous had bitten the base of it. Dragon’s blood streamed out and there was a shattering wave of pain from Vozyth.
Mephous is not to be toyed with! Valerius let out an hysterical internal laugh.
His head broke the water again. He was just fifteen feet from shore!
Pain streaked through his body with every movement.
Blood trailed out of the wounds that did not heal.
He wondered how deep they were and if he really was in danger of bleeding out already.
He had no real memories to gauge how badly he was injured, because everything hurt, even the most normal things now.
I need to keep going to get to Caden. Once Raziel returns to me, I will heal like this never happened, he told himself.
Fifteen feet turned to ten turned to five. He grasped the edge of the path and tried to pull himself up. For a moment, he couldn’t do it. He gasped and shook. The pain from his wounds felt like acid being poured over his skin. He felt the hot wash of blood still flowing down his back.
I believe this is bad, Valerius thought grimly.
But then he thought of Caden. He pictured that crooked smile and those bright eyes. He imagined Caden’s laugh. Caden laughed at most things, seeing the world with delight instead of filled with darkness.
Is he dying? Good fucking god, he’s dying! Jasper Hawes hissed.
Valerius’ eyes widened. He could hear the leader of Humans First in his head like he heard Raziel and Caden. Now that was not pleasant.