Page 52 of Dragon Sword

Alisa tried hard to hide her pleasure beneath a mountain of annoyance. “Well, whatever we plan to do we’d better do something quick before they decide to scour the city looking for you three.”

A rapping on the door caught my attention. Sylvia, too, noticed the sound and picked up her huge weapon. She slunk over to the entrance and opened the door just a hair.

A bright golden bird pushed its way through and flitted past us. It flew about the room chirping and squawking.

Alisa glared at her tiny friend. “Speak slower! I can’t understand a word you’re saying!” The bird landed on her shoulder and chirped out its message. Her face went ashen. “You’re sure?” The bird nodded.

My heart pounded in my chest. “What’s wrong?”

Alisa lifted her worried eyes to us. “The eagles are coming.”

“Why?” Will questioned the tiny bird. The animal chirped a few times in response.

“What’d the thing say?” Sylvia spoke up.

“It doesn’t know why they’re coming,” Will translated as he furrowed his brow.

A thought hit me that made my heart skip a beat. “You don’t think they’re transformed, too, do you?”

Will pursed his lips. “It’s possible but we won’t know until we-”

“Look out!” Sylvia shouted as she shoved her hands against my back. We both stumbled forward toward the center of the room.

I twisted around to frown at her. “Why’d you do-” My breath caught in my throat as I watched the dark clouds from outside slither their way under the door.

“Up the stairs!” Alisa shouted and her bird friend chirped madly before flying up.

We scrambled up the wooden stairs and they were as sturdy as my first examination. The boards creaked beneath our feet and Sylvia just ahead of me was the first to crash through. She let out a scream and latched onto the railing as her foot broke through the rotten wood. I looped my arms under hers and yanked her out before half-tugging her up the stairs with me. It was quite the load with her weapon and bag.

“I can walk!” she snapped as she got her footing and clambered up the stairs.

We tripped and stumbled over the other steps and Alisa in the lead found most of the rotten pieces of wood. Her nimble elf feet, however, meant she avoided falling through and we reached the top out of breath but in one piece. The steeple was accessed via a hatch and a small ladder that hung down from the ceiling. Alisa climbed up and opened the hatch, revealing the peak of the tower. She disappeared into the ceiling and Sylvia followed but she had a problem.

“My bag’s stuck!” she shouted.

My heart pounded in my chest as I glanced down the stairs. The fog ambled up the tower floating ever closer to our position. Will pulled me to one side and grabbed Sylvia by the back of her pants. He yanked her down the few feet to the landing, pulled off her bag and weapon, and flung them through the hatch. He then proceeded to do the same to her.

“Hey!” she screamed before she disappeared through the hatch.

He turned to me and I held up my hands. “I can climb.”

Will grasped my hand and pulled me to the ladder as the cloud reached the landing. I scurried up and climbed over the top before spinning around. He had his last foot on the ladder when the fog wrapped around his ankle. The mist solidified into a hideous wrapping of sloppy ooze that squeezed his leg and tried to pull him down. He grimaced but kept his grip on the ladder. Unfortunately, the rung bent under the pressure of the fight and I could see hairline cracks appear in the wood.

I flung my upper body into the hatch and grabbed his closest arm. He met my gaze and shook his head. “Let me go!”

“Not on your life!” I snapped back as I tried to pull him up.

The creature countered with its strength and pulled me further into the hatch. I would have fallen headfirst into Will if Sylvia hadn’t thrown herself around my waist and wrapped her arms around me.

“You’d better not go in there!” she scolded me as she pulled backward. “You promised to help Steve and I expect you to keep your word!”

Alisa appeared in the hatch and grabbed onto Sylvia. “Less talk and more pull!”

Together the pair yanked us up through the hole and onto the floor of the peak. Will had barely slid out of the opening when he twisted around and slammed his foot against the raised hatch. The wood slammed down hard on top of the semi-solid thing, forcing it back down.

We scrambled to our feet and I helped Will to stand. He winced and leaned heavily against me. His eyes moved down to his leg and my gaze followed. My breath caught in my throat when I beheld a ring of blood that coated his clothes so thickly the cloth clung to his leg.

“It’s coming through!” Sylvia shouted as she stabbed a finger at the hatch.

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