Page 154 of Of Serpents and Ruins
An idea popped into my mind.
"Arjax and Lorna fixed our rings," I said, "but they can’t touch the items on the table. Not without dying. What if they just changed the spear?"
Tile hesitated. "It could work. Eliminate the talismans without setting off the chain of sacrifices. Change the spear with the Vawtrian energy so it is no longer the same. That might be enough to throw her restoration ritual for the Babadon off entirely."
Kine gave me a firm nod, his features resolution. "Good thing the cousins are here."
My pulse throbbed. I cast my gaze around the cavern. The battle raged on. Brandt had ripped out more stone from the ceiling to pelt the monsters below. When a skeletal fiend raced toward him, he swung about, snapped it in half, and flung it over the side. Elias fought on the opposite side, wielding his quarterstaff with the frozen tips alongside his parasaur. Lorna and Arjax both remained in their ice wyrm forms, jagged teeth and icy breath making short work of the lava monsters that drew too close. Their tails served as clubs against the fiends. They were in the center of the right and left sides. Dozens of skeletal fiends stood between us and them.
""Tile, be ready to throw the reagents in as soon as we get the talismans in. Kine, you get Lorna. I’ll get Arjax." I whistled for Buttercup to come back.
My fierce horned girl charged toward me, crashing through the line, shattering enemies like pottery on stone. A large axe-wielding skeleton lunged for her. I shot at him, letting the water serpent form take hold. The thick curve of my horned skull struck the fiend and bowled him over.
Buttercup bellowed and dropped on another that raced toward us. A sword blade struck my back, the force bruising but not piercing my scales. Buttercup bowed her head to let me on her crest. Shooting up onto Buttercup, I clicked my tongue and flicked my tail in the direction we were to go.
Kine was already jetting toward Lorna, striking at any who attacked him.
"Come on, Buttercup," I shouted.
Buttercup blazed with rage. She flung her head back and forth and bellowed. My triceratops hated these fiends, and she swatted and crushed them with zeal. She crashed across the stone platform to Arjax.
I slammed my horns into another fiend, then skidded alongside him. "Arjax!"
He sent down another icy blast, then turned his fiery black eyes on me. "Having fun, little cousin?"
"So much fun. And it’s about to get more fun." I gestured with my chin toward the table and then explained as fast as I could.
Arjax listened attentively, his horned eyebrows pinching down. Then with a hefty grunt, he lunged forward. With practiced ease and magnificent power, he shot across the cracked stone floor, bowling over the skeletal fiends. His armored plating crushing them effortlessly.
I seized the ribs of one in my jaws and flung it into the head of another. Their bodies snapped like dry twigs. My mouth still felt odd, not quite hinging properly. But I didn’t have to be delicate or precise here.
Together we cut a path across the center of the stone platform until we reached the glistening edge with the cursed stone slab. Arjax lunged for the end of the table, remaining in his ice wyrm form. He blasted it with ice, freezing the table in a block of ice. Even though it started to melt almost at once, it created a sufficient barrier. Growling, he dropped back intohis human form and seized it. The stone cracked and popped beneath the ice.
The Gola Resh stopped her chanting. "What are you doing?" She darted forward. Actual rage and surprise filled her voice.
Before she could reach him, he picked up the whole slab table and flung it into the center of the Ember Lord’s Heart. The lines of glowing blue sulfur that created the circle pulsed with energy.
The Gola Resh screamed with rage. The shadows that formed her pulsed and writhed, eyes blazing.
Kine reached Lorna and held up the spear, speaking swiftly as monsters below advanced. Her dark eyes hardened. She dipped her head forward and dropped back into her massive human form. With a nod, she grabbed the spear. Energy arced and coiled over her hand into the spear. It spiraled like golden lightning.
Arjax spun around to face the Gola Resh as she screeched. Her claws scraped the air over his head. He flattened, then returned to the ice wyrm form.
Snarling, she struck again. One of her shadowed claws tore his arm and side open. Black wisps darted around him as he howled. The ice wyrm form shuddered around him, and he collapsed. His breath hissed through his teeth. Jamming his hand against the stone, he struggled to rise.
I struck at her. My jaws snapped air. Foul-tasting air that coated my tongue. Then I tried to headbutt her. She didn’t pay me any attention as she lashed at Arjax again.
"Get away from him!" Lorna’s voice boomed through the cavern, echoing off the walls.
She charged forward, back in her spinosaurus form. The Gola Resh barely wrenched around in time to move back. Lorna’s jaws snapped at the edge of her form. Cackling, the Gola Resh darted backward, leading Lorna away.
"Lorna!" I screamed, realizing how close she was to the edge.
Lorna pulled up short just in time. Bits of pebbles rolled off. A few chunks of stone crumbled from the edge. She snarled in response. "You think you can lure me to my death?"
"You’re thick enough," the Gola Resh sneered darkly. "Do you really think your plans against me will work? That I haven't considered every eventuality?"
I slid beside Arjax, dropping back into my human form as Lorna taunted the Gola Resh. This time, I kept my clothes.
