Chapter 21 #3
The spells had greater effect now, slicing into her. Punching holes. She didn’t show much of a reaction, but maybe that was because she was fighting half a dozen skeletons that pulled at her and climbed on her. One emerged from the ground with a butcher’s knife.
“How many people are buried on this land?” I asked Ivy House, my own horror seeping in.
“You’re probably not ready to learn that information.”
Ugh.
I switched to the less dangerous spells but kept the power. The Elder roared. She flung off the skeletons. The power in the wood concussed as she wrestled with the elements, trying to use what I had ripped away. I swirled the air again, sending in a poisonous fog that would put her to sleep.
It only enraged her further.
“Sebastian is now being dragged out of the house by the dolls,” Ivy House said.
“Leave that poor guy alone. He won’t know what the Elder is doing, anyway. This isn’t mage magic; it’s basajaunak magic that I’ve never heard anyone talk about.”
“Those who knew about it probably didn’t live long enough to share.”
Likely not.
I sent darts from the house, their magic avoiding anyone on my side and attacking only my enemies.
They flew into the clearing…and shot right past the Elder. She wasn’t actually an enemy. Damn it.
I increased the magic of the fog, swirled the air, and realized this would be a standoff if I didn’t get more physically involved.
This creature was not having it. She refused to succumb to the pain, my “manhandling” of the elements, or the horrors now trying to piece themselves back together after she’d scattered their bones.
Little bodies ran in with knives and shears and garden spikes.
The gnomes had entered the battle.
I wasn’t sure whose side they were on. They didn’t tend to mess too much with the basajaunak.
In a moment, though, they started hacking at her ankles. One took a running leap onto her leg, climbed up her back, held on, and brought out a pair of scissors. He started cutting off her braids.
I had to end this. It was getting too weird.
Only one thing to do. Physical violence.
I was about to go sailing, and I knew it.
Wings flapping madly, hands out and spells flying, I dove, using all the power I had.
Her head jerked my way as I got close. She could sense presences too, clearly. She spun to grab me, but I was already there. I barreled into her, taking her to the ground. My claws ripped at her as I fired spells, too close to be thwarted by her natural magic.
She howled in pain, finally.
And beat at me brutally.
I howled right along with her, but it didn’t hurt as badly as that time at Kingsley’s when I dove through the dome and then got blasted by magical guns.
I’d lived through that. I’d live through this.
I would win this fight, damn it. I’d lasted this long.
It was a matter of hammering her with powerful spells, and I’d had a lot of practice and built a lot of stamina.
Closing my eyes, ignoring her claws and fists, I latched on and kept going. She shoved, pummeled, and tried to pin me, but I kept sending spells at her, harder and harder and harder. I would win. I would.
Roars sounded all around us. Fur and hairy arms and hands moved between us.
“Stop, Jessie,” Nessa yelled through it all, her voice carried on the breeze. Or maybe that was me being poetic to stop from feeling all the pain. “You win, stop! They’re trying to break it up.”
“Oh, thank God,” I tried to say, and released my claws from the Elder’s flesh.
A stray punch hit my midsection before the Elder’s body was ripped away. Austin moved in with a growl, standing over me. A team of basajaunak wrestled the Elder, lifting her and dragging her away. Still, she struggled to get free.
She hadn’t decided I’d won at all. She certainly hadn’t tapped out. She’d probably lost herself and was trying to kill me.
“We’ve got Indigo here.” Dave’s voice was right next to my ear. “Does it hurt?”
Of course it freaking hurt. I had wings bent at unnatural angles underneath me, throbbing joints with probably many breaks, blood trickling—the wounds were many. She’d hammered me!
I was in gargoyle form and couldn’t properly answer him. I needed to get my wings sorted out before I could shift. It was probably for the best. I would’ve peppered him with insults.
“Great work, Jessie.” That was Phil. “Really great work! What a win, huh?”
It didn’t feel like great work, and I definitely didn’t feel like the winner. The Elder had been dragged off me, not the other way around.
“Hey, Jessie.” Indigo leaned over me. “We’re going to roll you onto your belly and spread out your wings, okay? That’s the best way to correct them, I’ve found. Though you aren’t as heavy and muscular as the other gargoyles. Still, it’s probably best.”
Dave and Phil helped roll me over. Flares of agony blasted through me, but again, it wasn’t as bad as that time at Kingsley’s. That hurt to live—to exist. This just hurt.
Well. At least I’d “won.” There was that. I hoped it was worth it, because at the moment, it certainly didn’t seem like it.