Chapter 29
Bryony’s stomachdropped at the sight of the monsters who had breached the barrier and were emerging from the trees to the north.
“What the hell are those things?!” Regina snarled.
Bryony lowered her brows. She could make out several species within the hideous bodies of the creatures closing in on the gazebo where a hundred or so citizens crouched.
“Chimeras.” A muscle jumped in Barbara’s cheek. “That bastard fused his monsters together and—” She froze, horror widening her pupils. “Wait. Are those?—?!”
“Oh God,” April mumbled.
Rage misted Bryony’s vision.
Several of the monsters bore human body parts.
“Well, now we know what that bastard did with the missing coven members.” She glanced grimly at Barbara. “Can you hold the fort a moment?”
Barbara dipped her chin. “Be careful.”
Regina fist-pumped the air enthusiastically. “Go kick some monster ass, Bry-bry!”
Barbara scowled at the grinning witch. “How about you focus on this shield?”
Bryony sighed and unleashed her sword. She and Penley began making their way toward the monsters. The ground shook in their wake.
Bryony stopped and turned.
She eyed Rambrog with a frown. “Stay here and help them.”
The giant rumbled something before shuffling his feet awkwardly.
“I’m pretty sure Brimstone ordered him to guard you in case of danger!” Abraham shouted over before cursing and swooping beneath a devil’s talons.
Bryony’s frown deepened. Rambrog’s expression turned decidedly mulish.
Her shoulders slumped. “Alright. Just make sure not to step on any of our friends.”
The giant beamed and lumbered after her as she headed for the path that would intercept the chimeras’ route. Heat pooled in her belly and warmed her blood when she stepped on the asphalt. Magic shivered into life around her and Penley.
The Sorcerer King’s fiendish creations slowed at the sight of the emerald aura brightening the air.
“Are you ready, Pen?”
Her cat meowed and pressed against her leg, his magic strong and steady across their bond.
Motion under the closest tree line had Bryony cursing. A pack of hellbeasts darted out from the shadows under the canopy and bounded for the gazebo.
“Rambrog! Protect those people!”
The giant’s brow furrowed. His anxious gaze darted from her to the chimeras.
She smiled faintly. “I’ll be okay. Now, go!”
Rambrog hesitated before heading for the hellbeasts. She waited until he’d cleared the area before invoking the spell Mae had taught her before she’d left New York.
“Wind Fury!”
A viridescent storm exploded around the chimeras. The currents intensified as Bryony poured her and Penley’s power into the spell, the invisible blades slicing the creatures’ flesh to shreds.
Most were immobilized by the tempest. Two managed to escape Wind Fury.
Bryony gritted her teeth and raised a barrage of spell bombs. She hurled them at the approaching chimeras. Though the blasts took chunks out of the creatures’ limbs and trunks and slowed them down a fraction, they kept on coming.
“Get away from there, Bry!” Barbara and Regina shouted shrilly.
“Bry!” April screamed.
Horror drained the blood from Abraham’s face. “Bryony!”
He began running, desperation making his movements clumsy.
Rambrog roared where he clutched a hellbear and a trio of hellboars in his hands. He flung the monsters across the park and rushed toward her, his feet leaving deep indentations in the grass.
She knew the giant and her aide would not make it in time to help her. Her spine stiffened.
The chimeras’ shadows swallowed her and Penley. The cat hissed defiantly at her feet, his fur on end and his eyes bright with magic. She gripped her blade and widened her stance.
We need to take at least one of them down!
Claws glinted when the first chimera swung for her. She ducked, spun, and thrust her sword up as she rose. Something slammed into her chest at the same time her blade pierced one of the monsters.
Bone snapped. Fire lanced through Bryony’s body as the blow lifted her off her feet. The world tilted violently around her. She landed hard on the ground, blood bursting from her lips on a guttural rasp.
Penley screeched. The cat jumped on her body and whirled around to face the attacker looming above them, his tiny shape defiant to the bitter end.
“Noooo!” Abraham howled.
His scream was drowned out by Rambrog’s bellow.
Bryony looked up blearily as a foot descended toward her skull and blocked out the sky. There was movement at the edge of her vision.
“ROT!” someone roared.
The spell engulfed the creature about to crush her head in a veil of black magic. Rambrog slammed into the second chimera and took it to the ground. Rot swarmed the monster. The giant recoiled.
The chimeras screeched and writhed helplessly, black magic eating at the coarse stitches keeping their misshapen parts together and consuming their flesh. They convulsed and foamed at the mouth before growing still, the dark light in their mismatched pupils slowly fading as their bodies disintegrated into dark ash.
Heart pounding, Bryony turned her head and saw the sorcerer who had saved her.
Oscar swayed where he clung to a tree. His face was a mess and blood oozed from his various wounds. He swallowed convulsively and made his way unsteadily toward them, one hand clutching the arm hanging limply at his side.
Abraham arrived and stepped between the sorcerer and Bryony, his face dark with anger. Rambrog loomed protectively over them.
The aide prepared to unleash a spell bomb.
Bryony recovered her senses and grabbed his ankle. “No! He just killed those monsters!”
Her breath caught when she registered what Oscar clutched to his chest.
Abraham stiffened. “Is that?—?!”
“—the Book of Light!” she mumbled.
Abraham pulled Bryony to her feet. Rambrog patted her gently on the back and almost sent her toppling over again. The aide scowled at the sheepish giant.
Bryony winced and clutched her ribs.
“Definitely broke at least one of the damn things,” she muttered under her breath.
Penley meowed loudly and scaled her dress in a flash. He perched on her shoulder and head-bumped her cheek, his chest rumbling with happy purrs.
Abraham cast a worried glance at her before focusing warily on the figure drawing near.
Desperation turned Oscar’s expression haggard as he approached. He stumbled and fell to his knees a few feet from them.
“Drabek!” he gasped, looking up with a beseeching expression. He pushed himself up clumsily with a hand and would have fallen again had Bryony not reached out and steadied his elbow. “Is Drabek still alive?!”
“Yes.”
Oscar stilled. Tears welled up and trickled down his bloodied cheeks. A shudder shook him.
He squeezed his eyes shut and sagged in Bryony’s hold. “Thank God!”
Bryony exchanged a shocked glance with Abraham.
Her chest tightened as she studied Oscar. She could hardly believe the man before them was the sorcerer they had all feared. He looked different. She frowned.
Even his magic no longer feels the same.
She glanced at the vanishing corpses of the monsters he had felled. The black wisps fading into nothingness did not stink of the Sorcerer King’s corruption.
Abraham’s suspicious gaze never left Oscar. “Why are you here?”
The reply he gave them made Bryony blink.
“To atone for my sins,” Oscar whispered, ashen faced. Cold determination filled his eyes when he opened them. “Where’s Mae?”