Page 115 of Skalterra By Nightmare
Ciarán had caught up. He had found us.
And it was my fault.
“You told me you weren’t followed!” Iseult yelled at Galahad, already running for the stairs.
“We weren’t!” Galahad pulled his goggles into place and downed one of his fresh bottles of Skal. I hesitated, unsure if I should stay with him or follow Iseult, but he wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his duster and pointed at the stairs. “What are you doing, Nightmare? Go!”
I raced after Iseult just as an armor-clad figure leapt from the stairwell. His eyes were passive and his face blank, but he held an orange scythe ahead of him.
He swung the glowing blade at Iseult. She caught it like she had when Tiernan had attacked her, and the weapon burst into bits of glowing dust. Iseult thrust her hand through the debris to grab the Nightmare by his face, and he collapsed in a pile of ash.
“So much for you being the only Nightmare down here in fifty years,” she growled at me.
I looked back at Galahad where he stood at the edge of the pool.
“I said go!” he grunted.
I took the steps two at a time, racing after Iseult.
“Ciarán?” I dared to ask the stairwell. I waited for his voice in my head, but the only sounds were the yells and blasts echoing outside of the Sanctum. On the off chance hewasthere, lurking in the corners of my mind, I growled a warning. “This better not be you, asshole.”
A dark chuckle vibrated at the back of my mind.
“Orwhat, Blue?”
Ciarán’s rasping purr sent a chill down my spine, and turned my muscles heavy with anger and fear.
I reached the top of the stairs in time to see another two Nightmares crumble under Iseult’s touch. She fell next to the edge of the open floor. Urian’s hands gripped the stone as Iseult tried to pull him up by his wrists.
“Your armor,” she gasped. “It’s too heavy!”
Another wave of Nightmares came up the Sanctum steps, and Iseult abandoned Urian to defend the doors. She pivoted on her real leg to bring her Skal prosthesis swinging into the first two Nightmares as she grabbed another two and turned them to dust.
“I’ve got you!” I took her spot over Urian and strength flowed through my muscles, aided by Galahad’s fresh Skal. I grabbed Urian’s arms and heaved. His metal armor grated over stone, and I dropped him at Iseult’s feet.
I paused to stare down at Galahad where he still stood by the pool below us. He held a bottle aloft, as if toasting to me, and then drank up. I bit my lip, the story of Balin and his doomed Nightmares still fresh on my mind, and a fresh wave of power rolled through my limbs.
“There’s more!” Urian pushed himself up onto his hands to point through the open door at the small horde of Nightmares running down the street towards the Sanctum.
“How many Nightmares did this guy make?” Iseult hissed.
“I made enough,” Ciarán sang in my head. “I can make them go away, Blue. All you have to do is yield, and I’ll leave Tulyr alone.”
“He has to run out of Skal eventually,” I said, ignoring Ciarán.
Leather and skin tore open along my arms as I armed myself with my favorite spikes of bone.
“Very well.” Ciarán’s voice turned poisonous. “We’ll do this the hard way.”
Orange lights burst in the sky over the southern lip of the crater, and I felt like I was back on the parapet under siege my first night in Skalterra. Screams echoed over the ruins as orange flames lit the grand staircase that led in and out of the city.
“Urian, where is the Sovereign?” Iseult’s wide eyes reflected the distant orange light.
“I sent them to—”
“Don’t!” I pressed my hands against my ears, not wanting to give Ciarán any more information than I already had. Iseult and Urian stared at me, but the new wave of Nightmares had reached the Sanctum steps, sparing me from an awkward explanation.
Urian slapped his helmet visor into place, and Iseult led the charge down the stone stairs. The first few Nightmares collapsed at her touch, and she slammed her silver leg into the Nightmares that rose to take their place.
