Fablehaven: The Complete Series (248 page)

“I’m not properly established here yet,” Civia said. “I spent the last ten days on the move. I suppose we could try to find a spot to make a stand.”

“Which creates the same problem as running with the dragon,” Warren said. “They’ll throw too much at us. But, unlike with the dragon, you’ll be cornered.”

Civia furrowed her brow. “I suppose if the dragon takes an erratic route, we might have a small chance.”

“I’ll come with you,” Bracken offered. “I can help defend you if Raxtus ever needs to set us down. I’m handy with a sword. And Niko, the leader of the shape-shifters, will catch up before long.”

“Don’t forget me,” Janan said.

Civia gave a nod. “The storage locker isn’t far. Let’s gather the appropriate gear.” Her expression softened. She leaned forward and patted Kendra on the shoulder. “I’m sorry I reacted so harshly when you tried to approach me. You collided with centuries of habit. I see now that your intrusion into my affairs was warranted.”

“Wow,” Janan said. “Civia never apologizes.”

“I do so,” Civia replied defensively.

“Not when I’m around,” the dog murmured.

“Thanks, Civia,” Kendra said. “We understand how shocking all of this must seem.”

“We were just happy to find you alive,” Bracken said. “We’ll do all we can to keep you that way.”

“Lonestar Lockers?” Warren asked.

“That’s the place,” Civia said.

Warren pulled up to a keypad in front of an electronic gate. Beyond the gate awaited rows of squat, cinder-block structures. The evenly spaced blue doors made the storage complex look like a crowded neighborhood composed entirely of adjoining garages.

“Code?” Warren asked.

“Nine, seven, zero, one, pound,” Civia recited.

Warren punched in the numbers and the gate slowly opened. Warren pulled into the complex. A wall topped with barbed wire surrounded the facility.

“Turn left,” Civia directed. Following her instructions, after the first turn, he cut down the third aisle, then stopped the SUV about halfway down.

“Let’s make it quick,” Warren said. “We’re on borrowed time.”

Civia exited the SUV, and Janan hopped down after her. Bracken and Kendra got out as well. Warren remained in the vehicle with the engine running.

Producing a key chain from her purse, Civia opened the heavy padlock on her storage locker, then lifted up the door. The locker contained several trunks and tall cabinets. Kendra also noticed a pair of motorcycles, one big and heavy, the other small and sleek.

Moving around the locker purposefully, Civia opened a trunk and strapped a short sword around her waist, then added a dagger. Next she removed a compound bow from a cabinet and snatched a quiver of arrows. “What do you need?” she asked.

“Do you have swords?” Bracken wondered.

She opened a metal cabinet. “Take your pick.”

Bracken removed a sheathed sword and pulled it from the scabbard. “You really are prepared,” he admired.

“It’s what I do. Kendra, would you like a shirt of mail?”

Raxtus landed heavily in front of the storage locker. “They’re here,” he said urgently.

“Explain,” Bracken said.

“Four black vans speeding toward this storage area. Three wyverns closing in by air, along with a firedrake. They all showed up together.”

“Can you outrun them?” Bracken asked.

“I can try,” Raxtus said without confidence. “The wyverns are coming from all directions.”

“Can you take out the firedrake?” Bracken asked.

“I think so,” Raxtus said.

“Go up alone, invisible,” Bracken said. “Take care of the airborne threats, then return for Civia. We’ll hold off the others.”

Raxtus took flight, becoming invisible soon after leaving the ground. They heard the gate being smashed, followed by the sounds of tires squealing.

“Wait in here,” Bracken told Civia and Kendra.

Sword in hand, he stepped out of the locker. Civia shrugged into a leather biker jacket and put on a motorcycle helmet. Kendra grabbed a second bow from a cabinet and a quiver of arrows. She nocked an arrow, her hand shaking. Outside, Bracken conversed with Warren.

“Is this it?” Janan asked candidly.

“I sincerely hope not,” Civia replied, voice muffled by her helmet.

“Our fight is not with you,” declared a magically magnified voice. “Give us the Eternal and you may depart in peace.”

Kendra knew the voice! She peeked out of the storage locker. Black vans blocked both ends of the aisle, two at each end. In front of the vans to the left stood Mirav the wizard, wearing a richly embroidered robe that descended to his ankles. Behind him, Torina pulled an arrow from her quiver, flanked by a quartet of minotaurs wielding hefty axes.

At the other end of the aisle, the Gray Assassin drew his swords. Trask got out of a van, carrying his heavy crossbow. By his demeanor, Kendra could tell he must be under the influence of a narcoblix. Armored goblins clambered out of the vans as well.

Kendra glanced at the overcast sky. Apparently Mirav could withstand daylight with sufficient cloud cover. She wondered if he had summoned the clouds.

“Let’s talk about this,” Bracken soothed, now holding his shield as well as his sword. Still inside the SUV, Warren clutched a sword as well.

Overhead, a wyvern shrieked and fell from the sky, neck kinked disgustingly. Mirav glared upward. Mouthing strange words, he waved a hand upward, and Raxtus became visible as he swooped to engage what looked like a flying snake about the length of a telephone pole. Upon seeing Raxtus, fire bloomed from its fanged jaws, and the firedrake took evasive maneuvers, wriggling like a ribbon in a windstorm.

“You have chosen destruction,” the wizard pronounced, yanking the horn of a unicorn from within his robes. The pearly horn was much larger than the horn Kendra had used at Wyrmroost, perhaps three feet in length. From either side of the wizard, minotaurs charged, armed with axes and maces. The Gray Assassin dashed toward them from the other direction, followed by goblins carrying swords and spears. The wizard pointed a long-nailed finger at Bracken and commenced chanting.

Laughing, Bracken threw his sword aside and extended a hand toward the wizard. “To me,” he said. Although Kendra understood the meaning of his words, she felt certain he was not speaking English.

The unicorn horn leapt from the wizard’s hand and streaked to Bracken, who caught it effortlessly. In his grasp, the horn immediately transformed into a sword with an opalescent hilt and a gleaming silver blade. Despite the cloudy sky, with the weapon in his hand, Bracken suddenly appeared as if standing in sunlight. A new glow suffused his countenance, and a sudden fire flashed in his eyes.

“The fool brought him his second horn,” Janan murmured beside Kendra.

Mirav looked stricken, but continued his spell. As the wizard finished his incantation, sizzling darts of energy began to leap from his extended finger. They blazed through the air, only to reverse their course as Bracken held out his sword. Every dart Mirav launched returned to burst against him, knocking him backward and setting his robe on fire.

As Bracken rushed forward to confront the oncoming minotaurs, Warren stepped on the gas, driving the SUV in the other direction. Trask shattered the windshield with a pair of quarrels from his crossbow, but the SUV kept gaining speed. The Gray Assassin maneuvered left and right, but Warren kept the vehicle on a line to run him down. At the last instant, the Gray Assassin flipped to one side, narrowly avoiding the SUV. The vehicle then plowed through a group of goblins, running some over and bashing others brutally to the ground. As the SUV neared the vans at the end of the aisle, Warren opened the door and dove out, rolling on the asphalt. The SUV crashed into the vans at a high speed, sending all the vehicles tumbling with a spray of shattered glass.

Kendra drew back her arrow, aimed, and fired it at the Gray Assassin. She had practiced archery a little, and the arrow was on target, but the Gray Assassin slashed it from the air with an almost casual swing of one sword.

In the other direction, Bracken dodged and spun to avoid minotaurs, cutting them down with efficient regularity. Robes ablaze, Mirav shuffled forward, a knife glinting in his hand. Bracken thrust his sword through a minotaur, ducked to avoid a mace swung with tremendous force, then yanked his sword free and sliced open his next assailant with a single spinning motion. Though strong and fierce, the minotaurs seemed slow and clumsy as Bracken danced among them, slaying one after another.

Kendra nocked another arrow, and Civia stepped out in the aisle with her, an arrow set to the string of her bow as well. The Gray Assassin drew nearer with a small group of goblins. Behind them, farther down the aisle, Warren battled three goblins with his sword. Kendra and Civia fired at the Gray Assassin together, but even at short range, he intercepted both of their arrows, one with each sword.

“Civia!” Janan shouted. Springing higher than any ordinary lapdog could, the tiny canine leapt into the path of a phoenix-feathered arrow coming from the other end of the aisle. The arrow that would have hit Civia in the back impaled the little dog. Crimson flames promptly consumed the shape-shifter, leaving no remains.

Face contorted with grief, Civia retreated out of the aisle back into the storage locker. Kendra drew back as well, pulling the door to the storage locker shut, then fumbled to get another arrow ready. Behind her, Civia kick-started the smaller motorcycle.

A pair of goblins heaved the door to the locker up. Kendra released her arrow and hit one of them in the chest, sending him staggering backwards. As the Gray Assassin moved forward, swords ready, a growling grizzly bear slammed into him from the side, sending him somersaulting across the asphalt. When the other goblin turned to confront the threat, the bear transformed into a tiger and pounced on him, teeth tearing at his throat. Niko had finally arrived.

Another goblin attacked the tiger from behind, slashing him with a scimitar, but before Kendra could fire an arrow to help, the tiger had turned and dispatched the attacker. The wound the scimitar had opened knitted itself closed and disappeared.

As the Gray Assassin rose from the pavement, Niko changed back into a bear and reared up on his hind legs. The Gray Assassin backed away, moving toward the end of the aisle where Torina awaited with her bow, so Kendra stepped forward into the aisle to help cover Niko.

On the end of the aisle where the SUV had crumpled the vans, goblins littered the ground, several killed by Warren, a few nearer ones slain by Niko. No goblins remained standing in that direction, but Warren was currently wrestling with Trask.

The Gray Assassin continued to retreat in the other direction. Behind him, dead and dying minotaurs lay sprawled along the aisle. Near the vans, Mirav held up both hands, creating a shimmer in the air. Bracken chopped at the invisible shield, each stroke sending up a flurry of brilliant sparks and causing the badly burned wizard to flinch. Currently, the bulk of the bear prevented Kendra from having a shot at the Gray Assassin.

Wheeling the motorcycle forward, Civia peeked out into the aisle, checking left and right, then gunned the engine, heading toward Warren and the totaled vehicles. In the other direction, Kendra saw Torina climb atop one of the vans. She drew an arrow back to her cheek.

“No!” Kendra shouted, aiming briefly and releasing her own arrow, which streaked harmlessly past the distant vivi-blix, missing by a good five feet.

Torina let her arrow fly. Niko jumped, trying to intercept it, but could not quite reach it, and the Gray Assassin seized the opportunity to dart forward and start hacking the bear.

Kendra turned and watched in horror as the arrow curved down toward the fleeing motorcycle. The considerable distance combined with the rapid acceleration of the motorcycle made the shot difficult—nevertheless, the arrow pierced Civia through the center of her back. Crimson flames spread across her shoulders as the motorcycle tipped and she bounced, tumbled, and skidded across the asphalt.

Roaring, Niko became a tiger and raced toward Civia, blood gushing from his multiple wounds. Civia pushed herself up to her hands and knees, the hungry flames spreading, then fell flat.

Mirav called for help, and the Gray Assassin answered, running toward Bracken from behind. Kendra screamed to alert Bracken, who turned and engaged the attacker, blades ringing sharply as they clashed.

Atop the van, a triumphant Torina nocked another arrow, but Raxtus swooped down from the sky and sent her flying with a vicious swipe of his claws. She had drawn the arrow back, but the impact sent it wildly astray. Wings flapping, Raxtus rose to engage the final wyvern.

Kendra watched in agonized suspense as the Gray Assassin battled Bracken. She could not risk helping with an arrow for fear of hitting the wrong person. Bracken seemed on the defensive, barely able to hold off the two swords with his single blade. Whenever he attempted a counterstroke, the attack was blocked and he had to duck or spring back to avoid a deadly blow.