Twisted Sister of Mine (Overworld Chronicles) (47 page)

Elyssa knelt by my side. "We have to stop the golems from killing the council," she said.

"How in the hell are we gonna stop a monster golem?" Shelton said.

That was a damned good question. "When do the giants fight?" I asked.

"Any time now," he said.

"Can we take the golem down with magic?" I asked. "Or is there a kill switch?"

Everyone exchanged uneasy glances. Shelton answered. "Once those things go in the ring, they're autonomous. But the controllers should have a kill switch."

"Michael told me Zagg was detained by security. That means we'll have to go down there and do it ourselves."

"I don't know if we can break through all those security golems," Shelton said uneasily.

I remembered the size of those golems in the practice field. How could I possibly take something like that down? The answer was obvious.

"MacLean, you go to the operators. Get to them by hook or crook and hit that kill switch."

"Aye," he said and raced back up the stairs.

"I'll go with him," Adam said and left.

"Elyssa, can you do whatever it takes to evacuate the council? I don't care if you have to carry them out over your shoulder."

"I'm coming with you," she said.

I gripped her shoulders. "Please, I need you to do that. Shelton and Bella will have my back."

She opened her mouth to speak.

"We don't have time, Elyssa. Please."

She kissed me hard. Looked at the others. "Don't let anything happen to him." With that, she blurred away.

"Shelton, Bella," I said. "Let's go."

"I will come with you, Justin," Vallaena said.

"Are we going to be running?" Shelton asked. "You know I can't keep up with supes."

"I will carry you," Vallaena said.

Bella arched an eyebrow. "He's my boyfriend. I'll carry him."

"Uh," Shelton said, an instant before Bella slung him over a shoulder.

"Follow me," I said.

"I'm gonna lose my lunch," Shelton shouted.

We blurred through empty hallways, emerged outside, and headed toward the stadium. Cheers erupted as an announcer called out names. The tremor-inducing thud of giant feet pounded the earth from within. It sounded like the fighters were already on the field. I went past the stadium, toward the forest, and stopped at the edge.

"How do the stadium doors open?" I asked Shelton.

"There's a gatekeeper," he replied, face bright red, though definitely not from exertion. He gave Bella a pleading look. "Can you put me down, now?"

Bella looked at me. I nodded, and she set him on his feet.

"Vallaena," I said. "Do whatever it takes, but get the gate open. Can you do that?"

She nodded and flitted back the way we'd come.

"You still know how to open the forest shield?" I asked Shelton, remembering the spider bat pranks he'd told me about.

He gave me an uneasy quirk of an eyebrow. "Yeah. Why?"

I turned to the petite dhampyr. "Bella, I need you to camouflage yourselves from smell and sight."

"Whatever for?" she asked. "I don't like the sound of this, Justin."

"Yeah," Shelton added. "'Cause spider bats don't attack humans." His face went pale. "Whoa, wait a blasted minute."

I put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm going to bring the guest of honor to the fight."

"This is a bad idea, man."

"It's a terrible idea," I agreed. "But we need to bring out the big guns to take down the golem."

"What are you talking about?" Bella asked, her violet eyes wide with concern.

Shelton groaned, and stabbed his thumb at me. "Genius here is about to let loose the mother of all predators."

I needed something huge and powerful to fight the golem. My answer?

The tragon.

Chapter 47

Releasing the tragon from its forest prison might rank near the top of the stupidest things I'd ever done, but since Michael and Zagg had failed their tasks, I had no choice. I sent text messages to them, just in case, before I went through with this insanity.

I waited impatiently for several seconds before Zagg replied.

Security let me go, but I don't know if I can get to the operators.

Michael responded a split second later.

Still no go. Taking alternate approach.

MacLean and Adam didn't reply.

I held back a string of expletives, and clapped my hands together. "This is crazy. This is crazy. This is crazy!"

The looks I received from the others only confirmed that.

"Get ready," I told them. "I'm going in." Without another word, I raced into the forest. Thorns and branches snagged my clothes, making fast progress difficult. "Here traggy, traggy!" I called. "Come and get me you big ugly thing!"

I picked up a large branch, and thwacked a tree, shaking leaves, and upsetting a flock of spider bats. They shrieked and flew away.

"Come get me!" I yelled.

I heard a grunt. A low groan. Loud snuffling. The trees fifty yards away parted, and a scaly, red snout poked through the foliage. It snorted, rustling leaves and sending a thin column of smoke drifting skyward. Two beady eyes appeared seconds later. The tragon glared at me for a moment, tilting its head as if amazed anyone could be so epically stupid as to yell at it. It roared, and flames licked the trees nearby, stopping well short of me, but heating the air enough to make my eyes water.

Limbs crackled and broke, and the beast lunged. I yelped, and raced back the way I'd come. A tree branch slapped me in the face, and I stumbled through a patch of thorns, which tore at my shirt. Somehow, I managed to keep my feet. I saw Shelton and Bella ahead. "Now!" I shouted.

Eyes wide, Bella raised her staff. She and Shelton flickered from sight. I ran toward the invisible shield, hoping Shelton knew what he was doing. I looked behind me as I blasted out of the woods and into the open field, a spray of dead leaves flying in my wake, and a thorny vine at least ten feet long dragging from the tail of my shirt. The tragon skidded to a halt just short of the treeline, angry eyes glaring at me. Apparently, it remembered the shield.

I jumped up and down. "Come on, you idiot. Come and get me!"

It took a slow step forward. Leaned down. Opened its mouth and roared. Flames shot into the clearing. The creature tilted its head. Took another step forward, tiny wings on its back flapping with agitation, and gingerly poked its nose about where the shield usually stopped it.

I picked up a clod of dirt and flung it. It smacked into the center of the tragon's forehead. The monster reared back, opened its massive muzzle, and roared. With blinding speed, it sprang like a reptilian kangaroo, flying through the air and landing only yards away from me. The ground trembled beneath me and earth sprayed in my face with the tremendous aftershock. I stumbled, somehow recovered, shrieked, spun, and ran, all within the space of a split second. The tent city loomed, forcing me to dodge through narrow alleys, jump stakes and ropes, and avoid coolers, beer bottles, and other garbage littering the grounds. The tragon, meanwhile, simply tore through everything in its way, crumpling tents, and crushing anything so unlucky as to sit between its feet and the ground. I prayed nobody was inside any of the tents, but there wasn't much I could do about it.

The moment I passed the final row of tents, I veered left, and ran along the stadium wall. A roar went up from the crowd, and thunderous applause echoed from within. Jubilation abruptly morphed into screams and sounds of panic. I heard the announcer shouting something as the screams grew louder. I looked up, and saw flying carpets streaming from landing zones high up in the back of the stadium, some of them with people clinging desperately to the side. Swarms of spider bats, frightened by the commotion in the forest collided with fleeing super-humanity, resulting in even more hysteria.

I was too late.

Unfortunately, with a gazillion-ton dinosaur-slash-dragon hot on my heels, I couldn't exactly stop. The portcullis loomed on my left. If I hadn't been breathless, I would've breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing it open. At least Vallaena had done her job.

I pivoted on a dime to veer beneath the portcullis. Unfortunately, someone had spilled ice cream on the walkway. My foot skidded on it. All sense of traction vanished. My feet flew sideways, and my shoulder slammed into stone.

The tragon leapt, tiny wings flapping, and a clawed foot smashed into the walkway, two of the creature's three toes landing to either side of my body. Ebony talons screeched against the stone, digging gouges. I looked up in time to see jaws the size of a monster truck rushing toward me. I dove, and hit the walkway as the tragon's mouth chomped empty air where my body had been a split second earlier. My feet skidded on the spilled food, found a clean spot, and I lurched forward on all fours beneath the portcullis. I heard a whooshing noise. Monstrous teeth clacked together so hard, a rush of warm air puffed against my backside. By then, I'd managed to get upright, despite my legs feeling like overcooked spaghetti.

Giant claws pounded the earth behind me. I ran through a massive tunnel, and emerged an instant later into the stadium. Across the wide space, a four-armed robot five stories high grappled with an equally giant stone golem. Parts of the stadium near the melee looked blackened and charred, especially the enclosed club seating area where Zagg had indicated the Arcane Council usually sat.

The robot smashed the head of the golem with one huge fist. Red lasers speared from the metal monster's eyes, burning molten gouges in the golem's stony body while its other hand held the stone giant's head motionless. The robot's other two arms gripped the golem's, holding it immobile. It looked like the robot had the upper hand, but had the golem already killed the council?

I magnified my vision, and saw the charred remains of two corpses behind melted glass. On the opposite side of the room, a gaggle of gray-haired men in robes beat frantically on the door. One of them pulled out a staff, and shook it, but it apparently wasn't working, because nothing happened.

The hand the robot held over the golem's face glowed cherry red. A white beam burst from bubbling metal, melting it to a nub. Now free, the stone giant turned its head, showing a single giant eye glowing white as the moon. Light speared from the eye, hitting the robot in the face, turning the metal lava red. The robot threw up another hand to shield its face, but it was too late. Its head sagged in the middle, drooping like a wet paper bag, and melted away in a stream of molten metal. The mega-bot's arms went limp, and it listed to the side, metal groaning like a ship running aground on rocks. In slow motion, it fell to the side, crashing to earth, sending a wave of grass and mud spraying in every direction. The ground buckled beneath my feet, nearly costing me my life as I stumbled away from tragon jaws.

The Cyclops golem rotated back to the panicked council members in the club box, its single eye glowing with unholy light.

A relatively miniscule beam of light speared from somewhere in the crowd, and I saw Zagg, staff outstretched direct the energy at the golem's eye. The automaton flinched as though a mosquito had bitten it. It let out a gravelly roar. Turned its baleful gaze toward the section of seating where Zagg stood, now bare of spectators. Scores of flying carpets circled the stadium far overhead, including a large one with a news crew.

The white beam erupted from the golem's eye, ripping up seating, and leaving a massive swath of black ash as it ripped toward Zagg. The historian threw up his arms in a futile gesture, and the beam of light washed over him.

"No!" I screamed.

The tragon, scant yards behind me, roared, and sent a blast of heat washing over my skin.

I reached the golem. Looked behind me and saw the tragon's eyes alight on the giant. One of the golem's giant feet rotated toward this new threat, nearly crushing me. I went down on my back, sliding on the slick grass beneath the lifted foot. I watched, helpless as the bottom of the foot traveled earthward. A hoarse cry erupted from my throat. The foot slammed to earth an instant after I cleared the ground beneath it. The shockwave lifted me off the ground, and sent me tumbling through the air. I thudded face-first into mud, sliding for several feet before coming to a stop.

Clearing muck from my face, I rolled onto my back just as the tragon leapt, claws extended for its new enemy.

The golem rumbled in protest, and grappled with the giant dinosaur creature which nearly matched it in height. The baleful eye glowed, and I feared the tragon was about to meet its match, but the huge reptile roared, blasting a gout of fire so hot it melted the ridge of stone just above the golem's eye. Lava washed across the deadly orb.

I glanced back at the club seating, and saw Michael rip through the door with his sword, freeing the council. The golem seemed to sense its primary targets' escape attempt. It rotated its head, and fired a blast at the fleeing Arcanes, but the molten stone across its eye blocked all but a tiny sliver of the death beam. The tragon's jaws clamped around the golem's head, gouging huge divots from it, and causing the giant to stumble backwards. It crashed against the stadium wall, sending chunks of rock raining down on the field.

The tragon and stone golem circled each other like two predators waiting for the other to make a mistake. The golem's eye burst into light, and the beam speared for the tragon. The tragon opened its jaws and blasted an inferno of ruby-red flames. The rippling energy met in the middle, swirling into a sphere of red and white. I watched, mesmerized at the sight, unable to move. I hadn't seen anything so awesome since watching a movie where pirates with laser swords fought ninjas.

The two creatures seemed evenly matched as the ball of energy boiled unmoving between the two. Any little change in energy would shift the battle. I raced forward, drawing deeply on the magic around me, and heard the whoosh of flames ignite in my hands. Two fireballs, each the size of my head, swirled in my palms. I raised my hands, palms up, and clapped the two fireballs together into one large mass. Rotating my hands around the energy like a kid would do with putty, I focused more and more energy, willing it to grow larger.