Leviathan (Fist of Light Series) (36 page)

“I think you made them angry.” I widened my eyes and readied myself.

Zack and Mary shifted at a signal from one another, off to collectively harry the heels of one warrior with Shadow springing lithely in their midst. That left two to one odds for the rest of us. My stomach did a flip-flop at the sight of the dark sentinels bearing down on us.

“Got any more of those tricks?” I asked hopefully.

“Just one,” Kathryne replied grimly before dashing off and jumping toward a sentinel.

Instead of bouncing off, though, she vanished inside the dark flesh. In moments, the huge mass of that soldier was being pitted against the other five. Kathryne laid into the unsuspecting sentinels. Obviously, their fellow warrior turning on them was not on the top of the things they were told to expect in guard training exercises.

“Well, I'll be damned. Girl's got balls of steel and power to boot.” Gallick glanced over at me. “Ya best better keep that one close.”

“Do my best.” I grinned. “Watch your front and don't die.”

My eyes tracked over to the doors on the other side of the room, the insistent implication that all would end there. But I couldn't leave my friends to fend for themselves. There might not be much left in me, but it would have to be enough. It had better be. I called Air insistently then reformed my lightning blades, their bloodthirsty hiss comforting. Streaks of light fell to the ground and bounced away, illuminating a small area around me. Some of the more enterprising sentinels broke off from their attack of their fellow sentinel and followed the light. Smirking, I dashed forward, skirting around boulders and jumping over them when that wasn't possible.

A stone sword slammed into the ground beside me, the blade burying itself deep in the ground. Rolling under a pair of giant legs, I lashed out to the side with my two swords, digging deep. The Achilles tendon severed cleanly and my opponent toppled forward.

“Timber!” I called, fueling a preternatural jump with a siphoned stream of Air.

Sprinting up the mass of dark flesh as it fell, I braced myself for impact. The sentinel crashed among pilings of rock and massive boulders, nearly throwing me from its back. I had no doubt that I would break my back on impact with the rocks if I fell from this height. Throwing one arm forward, I lashed a rope of Air around the neck of the warrior. That done, I shortened it in a matter of seconds, sending me practically flying towards my goal. All my frustration and anger at the deaths of my friends raged through me then. I hacked into the tough hide with a fury equal to none, the blades continuing to slash even after the being was long dead and unmoving.

Gallick approached the dissipating body, grinning. Extending one bear of a hand forward, he leeched the energy from the dead sentinel, taking it within himself. His eyes flashed blood-red as they locked with mine.

“That stuff is poisonous,” I snapped, the rage still pounding through me.

Gallick seemed to grow in stature at the infusion of power. “Maybe. But it be necessary if you want to see the end of this.”

I grunted, spinning my blades in indecision. There was a decision to be made. It was a risk to allow Gallick to live. It may be that he turned on us when we came to the core of Cusion. Maybe, like Auckland, he wanted the power for himself. Then we'd just be trading one evil for another.

He saw the hesitation. “You have fire, boy. If I be more a danger than help, strike me down.” Gallick lowered his weapon in submission.

I looked over my shoulder at the three sentinels battling Kathryne and the one still bulldozing inexorably towards us. I needed him. A surge of guilt threatened to consume me as I realized I'd been willing to kill a man in cold blood, whatever my rationalizations.

“No.”

Leaving my back open to a potentially enemy blade, I didn't hesitate, racing off. Kathryne wasn't doing so hot, but then three to one odds were even worse than two to one. My mind raced with possibilities that were within my reach. My reserves were vastly diminished, but something had to be done. If I didn't, she would die. Stoking the flames of my fiery anger, I distanced myself from thoughts of failure. With the power of Air behind my blow, I struck cleanly through the leg of one sentinel then stabbed the blade into the other leg on my way past.

I directed a blast of Air at the ground, flinging me high into the air. I landed with lack of grace on the shoulders of a battling warrior. As his brother fell and I appeared, hands quested out for the disturbance stabbing deeply into its neck. Obviously, I'd given these guys too much credit for brains. One of those dark fists held a massive sword in its grasp. When it came looking, it brought that with it, effectively impaling itself on its own sword. Kathryne's sentinel joined in the effort, stabbing the fallen warrior in the heart.

Two down and one to go, but I had to somehow survive the drop without killing myself. In the ensuing seconds, the remaining sentinel slashed deeply into Kathryne's puppet, crippling it. As it began to fall, Kathryne tumbled out of a leg, green eyes ablaze with pain. My processes went into overdrive as I had to focus on my own problems. Wind sent my hair into lively spasms, partially obscuring my vision. But I saw enough to focus on the heaving body of the enemy sentinel. It was readying itself for another strike, its sword on a collision path with Kathryne's body, tiny in comparison.

There wasn't time for anything else. I fashioned another tendril of Air, propelling it towards the midsection of the beast. A blast of Air behind me, and I had to fight the dizzying effects that plagued me. I was running on empty. Fury regained its embrace upon my thoughts and I catapulted through the air, fear overridden. My heart pounded out frantic beats, trying to get in a last good few runs. With wild eyes, I landed firmly on the gigantic blade, feeling the lethargy seep into my bones as it leeched power from my husk of a body. The inertia behind my planted feet was enough, though, driving the path of the weapon downward, where it landed jarringly amid a pile of boulders. Vibrations traveled up the blade and forced the sentinel to drop it even as I was thrown at the giant's feet.

There wasn't anything pretty about my crash landing, no perfect roll that evenly distributed the shock and had me fit as fiddle on the other side of the maneuver. I couldn't bow to a spattering of applause. Instead, I crashed into a boulder head on, burying my face in its firm embrace. Black occluded my sight, the impact enough to shatter bone. I'd been able to put up a measly pattern of Air in front of me, but it hardly blunted my pain and only drained me of the last bit of power left to me. After peeling myself off the stone like a cartoon, I lay spread-eagled on the uncaring ground, spent. My eyes tracked a mass of black as it rushed in to become my new reality. The red moon was smiling, content with the shedding of blood it had beheld. Now it was welcoming me into the fold, insistent and tantalizing.

I was unsure of the time that passed. I might have taken up the offer, but some vague notion kept me back. Some important task that needed to be completed first. My mind spun in circles trying to remember, breaking the spell and allowing the pain to bring me back the rest of the way. Agony pounded through me, as if my heart had crossed over to the enemy and was pumping liquid fire into my veins, displeased with my decision. All conscious thought fell apart, my mind retreating in on itself.

I sprawled in the expansive forest that was Jeeves' domain. I wondered why I'd yet to succumb to the dark lusts of the horde but was too tired to consider the implications. Looking around, it was apparent that this place had lost much of its splendor. A sea of emerald green grass had browned and withered, as if a beautiful garden had been left untended by its previously meticulous caretaker. Trees that had been bursting with life in my last visit were sagging under a massive weight. I sympathized with them. Sometimes things just got too heavy to bear.

“Might it be wise to withhold some power for the grand finale? I suppose it’s rather more fun to expend it all in a fit of rage. Have you learned nothing?” Jeeves said.

My head hurt; I groaned. “I think I'll need an extension on that loan.”

He smacked me upside the head. “Bah! Boy, get ahold of yourself! You've a battle to fight!”

Jeeves wasn't looking good either. His usually dapper appearance was frayed at the edges, eyes red and clothes in tatters. We were both in quite a state. Even this world was becoming dim to me, a last bastion battered down.

“Just give me a moment,” I pleaded, eyes fluttering closed, heart slowing.

A wave of power rammed into me and a great weight settled. My chest convulsed under the pressure. Jeeves beat at my chest furiously, refusing to see me die. My eyes burst open, two azure lighthouses renewed. Another powerful strike, but Jeeves had stopped his pummeling and stood back. I blinked, confused, before the forest began to dissolve before my eyes and the dark landscape of Cusion's world returning.

“Luck,” was all Jeeves had to say, flipping a gleaming coin in my direction.

I caught it, staring down at the gleaming quarter that had been with me from start to finish.

I was still staring at my clenched fist when I came to with Kathryne doing compressions. Black energy flooded between her fingers and into me, filling me with a liquid fire that threatened to overwhelm. My tank was topped off and then some, energy abound. Enough to topple mountains, or an invading Leviathan from another dimension. Green eyes shone into mine and I saw the relief there. Touching my lips, I grinned like a child.

“You kissed me!”

“Did not, you ungrateful—” Kathryne bit the statement off with difficulty.

Levering myself up into a sitting position, I wondered at the dark power in my veins. And that power
was
poisonous. I wanted more, craved it. If only I could amass enough of this stuff, nothing could match me. The insidious thought weaved through my mind, snaking through moral fiber and infecting it with new, more practical ideals. Why stop there? I could do more than protect. I could conquer.

“It's not easy to fight,” Kathryne said, showing she understood. “Seductive, isn't it? Why make the difficult decisions? Letting someone or something else take the wheel can be tempting.”

She slapped me once, hard. It was enough to bring me to my senses. I didn't even complain, I was so grateful to be back in the driver’s seat. Shadow tugged at my cloak insistently, teeth clamped down and a rumbling growl issuing from his throat.

“All right, boy.” I groaned and patted him obligingly. “Let's do this.”

But the battle still raged, two beasts pitted against a giant sentinel, wounded but still standing. Gallick was still having troubles of his own, despite his increased size and power. The two clashed, titanic figures locked in a timeless battle. Both parties stayed one step ahead of their opponents, their small stature and quicker reflexes working to their advantage. I moved to help them, but Kathryne caught my arm.

“We can't do anything more here,” she insisted.

“What are you talking about?” I blew up on her, eyes crackling blue. “They need us!”

Gallick huffed and let loose a battle cry before turning his attention on us. “Go!” he demanded. “You be on your own now! Destroy the dark core of Cusion and free us all! We'll catch up after all is said and done.” Zack and Mary voiced their support with assenting growls.

I hesitated, then relented under the forces pulling on me and rushed for the massive double doors. Not taking the time for practical means of entry, I blasted a wall of Air at them and they crumpled, creaking inward in protest. I wasn't going to sit there bellowing secret passwords until I'd ferreted out the unlocking phrase. I strode forward into the lighted, domed chamber, tantalizing power pounding through me.