Page 85 of Forging Bonds: Part One

I have no idea how long his momentary pause is going to last, but I’m not going to waste this opportunity. Within moments and far quicker than I should be able to move, I reach his leg and start to pull myself up. I’m at about waist height when it must finally click into gear with the creature that I’m climbing him, and he suddenly becomes sand.

I land with a thump on the sand, sliding down the edge of a dune and somehow managing to slice my back on what must be the only rock in that whole damn desert. The pain zings through my system but quickly disappears into a dull throb that I can easily ignore.

As soon as I’ve stopped, I race back toward the creature that has appeared closer than I think that it meant to, and once again, I start to climb. I have to try, if I don’t then I’m going to die, because there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this creature wants to kill me and that the Draconian Team won’t help me because of orders from Kylen.

Coen clearly can’t help. I know that he physically can’t help because I know him, one of our most favorite things was to fight alongside each other. Plus, there is absolutely no way that he would let me be in this much danger and not help me fight. He has that in common with Dimitri, or had. Dimitri would be down there encouraging Kylen right now.

There was a time when Dimitri would have snapped his neck without thought of the consequences.

“Not fucking now,”my inner voice admonishes me, and for once, I concede that she is most likely right.

Since the creature is more aware of what I’m doing now this time, I call Asael to me as a single sword, briefly thinking that I can’t wait to show the guys the new tricks that I learned with him before I refocus. It’s somewhat reassuring that my innate need to go off on tangents is so ingrained that even in life-or-death situations, I still talk absolute bollocks.

Since Asael has listened to some of my suggestions already, I’m hoping that he’s going to be able to listen to what I’m going to ask him now. As I start to climb, I throw him as far away from me and the creature as possible and ask him to light up as he did in the water when I was being attacked by the kelpies.

The creature once again freezes as Asael lights up, he must be using some of his own magic to keep himself going because there is no way that I could throw him that far. My plan works though, and the creature is so distracted by my awesome, amazing, and favorite sword, that this time, I manage to get halfway between its hips and its shoulder before it realizes what I’ve done and once again dissipates. I’m higher up this time, but the sand sort of falls away beneath me enough that I can ride it down, so my landing isn’t as hard. As soon as I’ve got my bearings I’m running again. I call Asael to me while I run toward the creature.

The creature hasn’t found me, it’s reformed with its back to me, and I only have a few moments before it finds me again I start to climb, an idea coming to me.

“I don’t suppose that there is anything more distracting that you can do?” I ask Asael, and he buzzes in my hand. I get an image of what we just did in my mind, and I instinctively know that he wants me to throw him again.

I’m at a weird angle, so I’m not going to be able to throw it as hard as I would like, but I get the sense that he just needs a little bit of help with the momentum, and then he can take care of the rest. Holding on with one hand, I pull my other one back and throw. He takes off, starting to glow again, and then surprises me as he zig zags through the air, moving upwards and making the creature swipe at him.

I smile proudly. I don’t know what kind of treats enchanted swords like, but Asael is about to get all of them when we finally get back to the castle. Not wanting to waste the opportunity that he’s giving me, I start to climb again, moving as quickly as I can and hoping that I’m not going to run out of upper body strength before I get to the top. I get right up to around the same height as I did a moment ago before his body starts to sift.

For fuck sake.

My magic swells slightly, and I try to understand what it’s trying to tell me because I know that it’s trying to tell me something. The voices are practically buzzing with excitement and anger, although they seem to be keeping their volume to the minimum, and I know that it’s because they don’t want to distract me. I do find it interesting that the spirit guides haven’t shown up, but I am equally glad that they haven’t. I imagine that there would be a lot of questions if they did appear, which makes me think that they aren’t appearing on purpose.

Focus.

The body is falling away underneath me, and using the last bit of firmness under my feet, I trust my instincts completely as I push off into what looks like complete thin air.

I really fucking hope that the instincts that are telling me that he’s going to reform over here are right because otherwise, I’m going to land on my fucking face, and it’s going to really hurt. I position myself so that I can grab hold of whatever I land on, and I have never been so relieved to feel fabric underneath my fingers as my hands clench into fists and I hang on, my feet scrambling for purchase.

The creature is turning around, and Asael is nowhere in sight, so I’m going to assume that the creature has no idea that I’m on him, and that’s why he’s looking around; he’s trying to find me. Using all of my strength, I try to move as quickly as I can. I am running out of ways to distract the creature enough that I can get on him. I’m pretty sure that was the last trick that Asael had up his sleeve, and without someone else to help me take the creature down, I am running out of options.

Excitement thrums throw my veins, I know it shouldn’t, but I love shit like this. I could die at any moment, and yet, my body is practically vibrating with excitement, and I can’t help but find it fun.

More proof that I am not sane.

As I get to his shoulder, he suddenly stops moving, and I do as well. I am literally standing on the big fuckers shoulder. I am so close to the heart, but I can’t move. He’s stopped, his clothing is thinner up here, and I’ve got a horrible feeling that he has only stopped because he can feel me. If I move, then he’s going to feel me, and then it’s all fucking over.

However, on the other hand, this may be the closest that I’m going to get and he’s not going to stay still for long. I weigh up my options. There is no way that I can throw Asael from this angle and hit his third eye. I’m on his freaking shoulder. I hear a voice shouting, but I can’t make out the words since I’m so far away. Whatever has been shouted though makes the voices shout and resonate with anger. They aren’t happy at all.

Within moments I realize why, as the giant head turns in my direction. I run toward it. This is definitely my last chance to get this close, and I have to at least try. I call Asael to me in his double sword form as I carry on running. I say a quick prayer to whatever deity decides to listen that I’m going to make it.

Of course, they don’t fucking listen to me. They never have before, and I have screamed for them to help me in the past, so why would now be any different?

His giant hand plucks me off of his shoulder, and he throws me.

This is going to hurt like a mother fucker. I was really fucking high up, and he’s thrown me hard. I’m going to die. There is no way that I’m going to be able to survive this. What may be worse is that it’s going to be broadcast to most supernaturals in most of the realms, and then I’m going to come back after going to the Darkness Friend, and I have no idea what the consequences of that are going to be.

I can only imagine that they aren’t going to be good.

The other problem is that I can still feel Raiden’s magic inside me. He said that it shouldn’t still be there, but it is, and we never got a chance to look at why. Which means I have absolutely no idea what problems having it thereand dying are going to cause. Maybe it will be a case of my magic overriding his because I no longer need it?

All of these thoughts fly through my mind in a split second as I hurtle through the air. It’s probably thanks to the number of times that I have been thrown through the air to my impending death that I’m able to stay so calm. I don’t yell, I don’t scream, I don’t even flap my arms. I know that this is going to hurt like a mother fucker, and I know that I’m going to die from it.

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