Page 99 of Skalterra By Nightmare
“Don’t lose him in the plains!” Ciarán commanded. “Otherwise he’ll keep following you!”
I echoed the words out loud for Tiernan, and pulled him to his feet to sprint after Titus.
Tiernan, with his bearings gathered, summoned a golden javelin and hurled it at Titus. The tip of the weapon pierced through his shoulder and knocked him face-first into the ground with a muffled cry.
We charged forward with Fana between us, but Titus remained immobile on the flattened grass as if pinned there by Tiernan’s upright javelin.
“Is he dead?” Fana whispered. I knelt down next to Titus as Tiernan’s javelin dissolved. Maybe the blue spore light was making the wound look strange, but there was something familiar about the way his blood gathered and clumped where the javelin had pierced his shoulder.
“Careful, Nightmare,” Tiernan said, sniffing loudly.
I ran my hand over the shoulder wound. What should have been warm with blood was buzzing with used Skal, and my fingers came away with a coating of thick, ash-like dust.
“It’s dirt,” I murmured, and realization dawned on me too slow.
The behemoth of a man rolled over, eyes flashing red over an open-mouthed grin. His hand shot out from under him, and I pushed Fana out of the way. Fingers morphed into claws, and Titus’s tattooed hand transformed into a massive talon that gripped me around my chest, and dug into my armor.
I cried out, grabbing at the wolf and scimitar tattoo on his forearm to keep myself steady. I swung my arm upwards as my favorite bone spikes shot from beneath my skin. They sliced through Titus’s talons. Dust poured from the appendage until he stemmed it with a new lethal claw.
Fana, Tiernan, and I staggered backwards as one.
“He’s a Nightmare,” I breathed.
“No shit,” Tiernan spat. Twin swords appeared in his hands.
“It was nice of you to teach me those pretty tricks of yours back on the Baron’s boat.” Titus flexed the sharpened points of his regrown talons. “I never would’ve known this was possible without your help.”
Wings sporting brown plumage expanded behind him, and he beat at the air. The force of the wind knocked us backwards in a tangle of limbs and rope.
From the air, Titus would be able to track our progress across the plains. He and Tamora would follow us all the way to Galahad’s old home.
I ripped the rope of my lead with my bone spike, freeing me from the others, and I ran after Titus. I willed all the strength I could muster into my legs and sprang after him, digging claws of my own into his thighs.
“Wren!” Fana cried after me.
“Go!” I pulled on Galahad’s magick to make myself heavier and dragged Titus back to the ground. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t follow you!”
Fana hesitated, but Tiernan pulled her towards the cover of the grass. The rotsbane howled again, closer this time, and Tiernan stopped his and Fana’s retreat to look back at me with wide eyes.
“I’m fine!” I shouted. “Get Fana out!”
Titus beat his wings harder, but I was too heavy. He landed on top of me in a mess of wings, and Ciarán crooned in my head.
“Birds have hollow bones, Blue. Break him.”
“I know how birds work!” I turned my fist to steel as I brought it swinging into his side. His ribs snapped in my wake.
He screamed in pain, and the sound blended with that of the howling rotsbane. I ignored the approaching monster and managed to pin Titus beneath me.
Bits of blue hair had escaped my ponytail to hang in his face. He blew them away as he glared up at me.
“How long have you been Tamora’s pet then?” I asked.
“I’m not herpet, I’m her partner!” Titus erupted in porcupine-like quills, and I was forced to leap off him. He made another break for the grasses. I lunged at his unprotected legs and slashed my bone spikes into his ankles. He collapsed as his tendons severed.
“Titus is a fake name, right? To keep you safe from other nocturmancers?” I stood over him so he could watch his blood turn to dust on my spikes. “I’ve met dogs named Titus. They’re always lap dogs for some reason.”
“I’m not a pet.”
