Chapter 41
A ll the hours training, all the time in the gym, the katas, the grappling, everything came together as we fought the stone menace.
My body was fluid as I ducked and evaded the swipe of talons, strong as I shoulder-slammed and punched metal plates.
My stone skin activated easily, protecting me from the worst of the blows, and Derek remained close but didn’t intervene.
He knew I had this because I knew I had this.
Shar and Touron flanked me, taking down grotesque after grotesque. Someone let out a bellow of pain somewhere, and snarls broke the air.
Hawke shouted instructions to his teams as more grotesque fell into the street. But we continued to move forward, knocking them down and taking them out.
“Another wave on the roof!” someone yelled.
I leapt back to avoid a swipe to my abdomen, then attacked with my talons, raking a line across the creature’s stony face to distract it so I could follow up with a left fisted punch to its chest plate.
It crumpled in a heap.
“I see a black line up ahead!” Palia yelled. “I think it’s a safe zone.”
“Then let’s move it!” Touron said.
We broke into a jog as Hawke bellowed a warning from behind us.
The world rumbled and the ground shook as a hoard of grotesque spilled into the street, blocking us off from the exit.
“Fuck!” Sharniza ground to a halt beside me, her body in a crouch, eyes narrow slits. “There are too many. We won’t make it through.”
She was right. We’d be crushed—forced to our knees by the sheer number of these creatures. How had the Stone Council managed to capture so many?
“We need to turn back,” Dayn said,
“There are more of those things up there,” Hawke replied. “They’ll block us off if we retreat, and we’ll end up trapped.”
The grotesque held the line, no longer attacking, knowing that we had no choice but to move forward. To move toward them.
Levi had said they weren’t the most intelligent of creatures, so this maneuver had to be engineered somehow.
But why? Why lock us in like this…Wait…
All this time Yarrow and Levi had been training us on how to use our shields. How to draw on nature to strengthen them.
The sky was dark and gray with the threat of a storm. There was power in a storm.
Power at our fingertips.
“I know what we have to do.” I turned to the others. “We use our shields. We use the impending storm.”
At first, all I got were confused expressions, but then Curi cursed softly. “Of course. We push back with our shields and force a path through.”
“Genius!” Touron said.
“Good call.” Hawke looked almost impressed. Hard to tell for sure because the guy was rocking a poker face.
I looked up at Derek. “You ready to do this, buddy? We got to help clear a path. There are too many of them. It’s too dangerous to fight our way through.” I allowed myself to feel the fear, to acknowledge the threat of being pulled to the ground and ripped to shreds.
Derek’s form grew larger, his diamond eyes brighter. “I won’t let them touch you.”
Perfect. “We ready?”
A chorus of yeses filled the air.
I put my head down and charged at the stone wall of creatures. My skin tingled, hardening at the perceived threat. Then a blinding light seared my eyes, and they were knocked on their asses as Derek blasted a hole through the mass.
“Mother fucker!” Waxen cried. “Get behind Basque. We can use her as a battering ram!”
My boots pounded the ground, arms pumping as Derek blasted the creatures out of the way. The air cracked with charged particles. The sharp scent of the storm was heavy on the air as everyone drew from the elements, creating a bubble of protection around them as we ran.
Grotesque attacked in my periphery, but they hit our shields and were flung back.
Their screams of rage and frustration rent the air then died abruptly.
Derek materialized ahead and came to a stop, his shadowy form hunched over, shoulders heaving.
“We did it!” Ginia let out a whoop and punched the air. “We fucking did it.”
“They’ve stopped,” Shar said. “I can’t hear them, but they’re screaming.”
“Must be some kind of ward between those lines,” Touron said.
But my attention was on Derek. “Hey…” I hurried over to him. “Are you okay?”
He nodded and looked up at me with a smile. But his eyes were dull, and his frame looked smaller than usual.
“Is he okay?” Shar joined us. “Derek?”
“I will be fine.”
But he didn’t look fine. “I think you used too much juice too quickly.”
“Then he needs to recharge,” Shar said.
Derek held out his hand, and I took it, noting the tingle that passed between our palms. “Stay close.”
“Always,” Derek said.
“We should keep moving.” Sharniza waved everyone forward. “Move. The extraction point shouldn’t be too far.”
“About a mile and a half,” Palia said. “We can make that in half an hour.”
“Easily,” Hawke agreed.
We set off with Palia and Ginia as our navigators.
“Anyone hurt?” Shar asked Hawke.
“Not seriously.”
I looked back, searching for Curi to find him helping Waxen along. The goyle had a wound on his abdomen which was slowly healing.
Curi locked gazes with me for a beat and gave me a short nod, letting me know he was all good.
“Takes longer than usual for grotesque-inflicted wounds to heal,” Hawke explained. “He’ll be fine in a few minutes.”
“We did good,” Touron said. “Real good.”
“That shield move was genius,” Saffe said.
But it had taken a chunk out of Derek’s energy levels. “How is everyone feeling after using their shields?”
“I’m good,” Shar said.
“Me too,” Touron added.
But Derek wasn’t. “Do your shields feel…depleted?”
Touron shook his head. “I don’t think so. I feel energized. Drawing from the elements helped.”
Hmmm…maybe this was the downside of having a sentient shield that existed outside of my body. Maybe it took longer for him to recharge because he was a separate entity. Maybe he needed to draw from the elements.
“Derek, can you recharge by drawing from the air? From the storm that’s coming in?”
Derek looked up at the rapidly darkening storm clouds. “I don’t feel a connection to the storm. My connection is to you.”
And I’d fed off the storm like Yarrow and Levi had taught us, but it seemed it would take longer for that to filter to Derek.
Sharniza’s lips tightened. “Let’s hope that whatever we go up against next doesn’t require heavy shield use.”
“I think that was the shield test back there,” Palia said. “I’m pretty sure we all passed.”
The sky rumbled, and a flash of lightning lit up the clouds in the distance. “Great, I think it’s about to—” The heavens opened, dropping a sheet of water on our heads. “Great.”
We picked up speed, vigilant of the buildings around us—of the alleys and dark spaces. The sun hid, leaving us in gloom, our vision compromised by the heavy rain, auditory perception muted by the thundering sound of the rainstorm.
“Left at the intersection!” Palia called out.
We made the turn onto a wider street lined with stores.
It opened out into a larger space with a raised pergola in the center.
This must have been the center of this settlement where markets were held and functions were hosted.
Maybe the pergola had once held a band of musicians.
It might even have been hung with pretty lanterns.
Damn, I’d watched too many olden time movies.
The rain fell harder, lightning flashes coming closer together as the storm drew near.
We ran in formation, ground-battle unit in the center with Hawke’s teams falling back slightly to flank us.
We were ready for whatever came our way.
We were halfway across the square when the twins came to a halt.
“Incoming!” Ginia pulled her sister to the ground as something inky and viscous whizzed over their heads.
“Incoming wraiths. One o’clock!” Hawke confirmed.
They had wraiths here?
What had Levi told us about these creatures? They fed on life force through touch, but goyles had some resistance, and it would take more than one touch to debilitate one of us. More of the creatures flooded the square until the air was filled with them.
“I can’t see the punch plates on them,” Shar called out.
“Me either,” Touron said.
“Run!” Curi grabbed my hand and yanked me forward. We managed to get a few yards before we were forced to swerve and turn back. We ran around the pergola, then through it, with two wraiths on our tail. Then three. I feinted left while Curi feinted right, and all three turned toward me.
Curi yanked me toward him, and their hooded heads turned, still focused on me.
“What the fuck?” Curi said.
Another blocked our path, and suddenly we were surrounded by cloaked shapes floating a couple of feet off the ground.
They closed in on us.
“Cameron!” Touron shouted from outside the circle.
Curi’s grip on my hand tightened. “I can’t see any punch plates, Cam. This is wrong. Something’s gone fucking wrong.”
They were focused on us…No…not on us, on me . They were all looking at me. What the actual fuck?
“Cameron…” Curi hugged me to his chest protectively. He’d picked up on it too.
The wraiths let out a collective mournful wail, then rushed us.
Derek materialized in front of us, letting out a roar that sent a blast of light outward, forcing them back.
It was impossible to tell whether their screams were of pain or anger at being thwarted.
Derek cried out and dropped to his knees. “Cameron, run,” he pleaded, looking up at me with dull gray eyes.
He was depleted. His energy was too low to fight these fuckers off, but he’d beaten them back and created an opening for my escape.
They were after me, and if Curi was with me, he was in danger. But his grip on my hand was so tight there would be no getting away.
I’m sorry, Curi. I let loose my talons and stabbed his hand.
He yelped and released me on reflex.
I ran.