16. Varyx
VARYX
T he Void Gate stretched and rippled as unnameable horrors fought to push their way through. My flames beat them back, but never for long enough to close the rift, and two fresh horrors arose to replace every one I blasted.
I’d quickly accepted that the fight was unwinnable as soon as I saw the size of the breach. That didn’t matter so long as Lena escaped. If I held the Gate until my strength failed, that was all the help I could give her. It would have to be enough.
An awful mouth appeared from nowhere, clamping down on my leg with brutal strength before evaporating under the heat of my flames. Blood oozed through my torn skin, my scales broken and twisted where teeth had struck. The injury wasn’t debilitating, but it would slow me down and distract me.
By the sacred flame, Lena, you’d better be two dimensions away by now. I won’t be able to hold out much longer.
It would make a glorious death, though alas without witnesses to tell the tale. Before I had time to dwell on that unfairness, the next wave of attackers stormed through the Gate. I wondered if I should thank them for the distraction.
A horde of small, goblin-like creatures screeched as they attacked, the noise an assault on my ears. I answered with a roar and landed among them, striking out with my claws, my tail, and my flame.
There were too many, and they fought without regard for their lives.
Worse, they were clever. Swarming me, some threw themselves at my face, distracting me while others dodged around my flank.
With a defiant roar, I lashed out with my tail, scattering the foe and smashing many of them against the rocks. My flames engulfed others. Many died.
Not enough. One creature made it past, then another, slipping away between the rocks and out of my sight, carrying the touch of the Void onto my island. I snarled, instinct telling me to follow, to catch and rend and tear. If the portal was still open, if they reached Lena’s world…
No. I dared not think about that. The moment I turned my back on the Gate, I would lose. The greater Void monstrosities would tear their way through and consume everything.
With a curse, I threw myself back into the battle. If by some miracle I sealed the breach, I’d try to track down the Void goblins before they did too much damage.
Behind me, I heard a sharp snap followed by the thump of something hitting the ground hard. I risked glancing back, then froze in horror, my eyes wide.
One of the Void goblins lay unmoving, its head at a strange angle. Over it, panting for breath, soaked through and disheveled, stood Lena. She held a branch high in her trembling hands, then brought it down on the goblin again.
I’d never seen a sight so beautiful, or so terrifying.
Exhausted, the human stood barefoot on the rain-slick rocks and looked up at me, her teeth bared in a smile that warned rather than invited.
The rain plastered her glorious red hair down, and her wet Cosmic Tiki Bar t-shirt clung to her curves, leaving nothing hidden.
Any other time, I’d have stopped and stared at the warrior beauty my mate had become, drinking in the amazing sight.
Now, I didn’t have attention to spare. Even the momentary pause as I looked at her might have been my undoing.
I almost didn’t notice the descending stinger, and when I spotted it, I barely had time to dodge it.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I shouted, grabbing hold of the venomous spike and twisting it off. Black ichor dripped from the stinger, and where it landed, the rock hissed and sizzled. “I told you to leave, you idiot! Now we both die!”
The glare she shot me was, objectively, a thing of beauty. The fires of her passion burned so hot that, in a just world, I’d have burned to a crisp in seconds.
“Fuck you, Varyx,” she shouted over the storm. “You never planned to survive this, did you? You were always going to die here.”
“Here or somewhere else, what does it matter? At least now I have something worth dying for.”
“No, idiot, you’ve got something worth living for. I swear, if you get killed here, I will hunt you down and… and hurt you. Somehow.”
As if to emphasize her point, the second Void goblin screamed and leaped at her from the rocks. Lena swung her heavy branch into it, catching the disgusting creature midair and knocking it away screaming.
She pointed the splintered end up at me. It only shook a little. “You, Varyx, are coming with me.”
I couldn’t laugh at her display, no matter how small the threat was. She’d climbed a cliff in the rain, found a weapon, and waded into the fight to rescue me. Lena had chosen an impossible quest, a foolish and doomed plan, and she’d committed to it.
“I cannot leave, Lena. If I tried, the Void would consume this world before we reach the portal.” As I spoke, I grappled with a trio of tentacles covered in biting mouths. Their teeth tore at me, most glancing off my scales, a few finding weak points and clamping down hard.
I snarled and tried to shake them off. One came apart under my talons, another I caught in my flames, but the third had a firm grip on my hind leg, dragging me toward the portal, and I couldn’t reach it. I twisted and clawed at it, to no avail.
And then Lena appeared at my side, swinging her branch and screaming, smacking the tentacle where a mouth latched on.
The black tentacle thrashed, letting go for a moment before clamping down even harder.
Her next strike was less successful, though the shudder that ran through the Void creature showed it had some effect.
Lena snarled and wound up for another attack.
“Let! Him! Go!” She struck again between each word, furious passion in her breathless voice. A dozen mouths howled in pain, and something struck through the Void Gate aiming at her, rather than me.
With a roar, I ripped my leg free from the remaining mouths and lunged into the attack’s path.
A giant serpent made of night struck me in the chest, the impact staggering me, and I grabbed hold of the darkness.
My talons dug in and I lit it up with my flame as we tumbled back, missing my Lena by inches.
The scream of the monstrous snake shook me, its fangs digging in as it tried to get through my scales, and I roared in answer, ripping and tearing. Anything to keep its attention on me and off Lena.
Lena, who was nowhere to be seen. For a moment, hope flared in my heart. Had she seen reason and fled? But no. I couldn’t be that lucky. I found her running, yes — but toward the rift, not away from it. My blood froze and hope died as I expected her to.
No! I will not allow that. Whatever she plans, I’ll buy her the time to try it. My plan had failed. If she wanted to try something else, I’d back her to the hilt.
If that meant killing every Void monster to keep them off her back, so be it.
I twisted with all my might, and something snapped inside the serpent.
My flame roared past it and I surged after my mate, incinerating a group of Void goblins before they reached her.
She flashed a grin over her shoulder, and I felt like I’d won the greatest prize in the universe.
We’d die here, I was all but certain, but we’d die fighting together. And who knew? We might even win.