Page 155 of Of Serpents and Ruins
I tugged his good shoulder as I tried to move him. "Come on!"
He nodded, gritting his teeth. Blood spurted as his flesh and muscle struggled to knit back together. The darkness pierced the wound like needles, seeming to prevent the healing. He almost crushed me as I helped him beneath one of the obsidian overhangs.
"What do you need?" I asked.
He grimaced, clutching at his arm. A new wound opened in his side. "Focus. Damn venom." He doubled over. The wound spread again. A new injury opened in his shoulder. He closed his eyes. "Crespa! Nothing you can do, little cousin. Just fight. And don’t let her touch you." Another pained cry tore from him.
Buttercup crushed a fiend that lunged for me. I picked up a fallen spear and swatted another. More and more were still coming! Even without the Gola Resh chanting. And they were slowly growing in number.
Lorna laughed at the Gola Resh, but the sound had a desperate, biting edge to it. "You will fall eventually! Come close and feel my teeth."
"I will never fall," the Gola Resh chortled, malicious delight filling her voice.
Light flared and pulsed within the heart, the blue sulfur lines of the lava pulsing and flaring out as the table with the talismans slipped down into the molten rock. The stone glowed yellow-red.
Kine ran to the edge and flung the Great Spear into the heart as well. It landed in the center, point first. The broad triangular head sank evenly into the molten rock. As several of the bubbles rose from the lava, a fine spray coated the handle, singeing it. Smoke and steam spiraled up.
The Gola Resh’s form warped and twisted as if a great wind rushed up around her from all sides. Her skull-like features distorted. "You think you’re so clever." She laughed, clapping her hands together. "Fine. No willing sacrifices. I have those who swore fealty."
She clutched her fists and spread her arms. A horrid wailing chant rose into the air.
Fifty of the Kairos Faction stopped. Their muscles went rigid, their faces frozen. The weapons clattered from their hands. Their shadows intensified and stretched across the floor and against the walls, drawing toward the Gola Resh.
Elias spun around, gripping his enchanted quarterstaff. "Release them!" he bellowed. "If they are to fall, let it be in honorable combat!"
"You were all going to die anyway." The Gola Resh cackled. "You were always going to see this, Ruler of the Kairos. What a fine leader you make, so boldly leading your people into life. The Babadon’s life. How foolish they were to trust you."
Ihlkit! Despite my anger toward Elias, pity surged within me. The utter horror and sorrow on his face was heartbreaking. And the poor men and women who had followed this bargain had done so to save their families.
Once more, the world slowed. Blood thundered in my ears. All I could do was watch.
The seized faction members withered into corpses in seconds, lurching into the air. Red mist shot out from their bodies as their shadows snapped off like dead twigs from a rotted tree. It was over in less than a breath.
Elias’s jaw tensed. "Keep fighting!" he shouted to the remaining faction members.
"Fight, all you who remain," Brandt bellowed. He shouted something else that I did not catch, then slammed up into the air and broke off a trio of stalactites with his mouth. He hurled them down like missiles. Shrieks of pain and alarm rose along with the fine spray of lava as more and more monsters advanced from the depths. He spat black venom down upon the advancing monsters. There were barely fifteen of us left fighting.
I spun to shout for Tile to throw the reagents, but he lay face down on the ground, blood streaming from a wound in his head. Feathers and roots and packets of dust lay scattered.
No!
He hadn’t thrown them in.
The red mist twisted around as the Great Spear sank lower and lower. The table had tilted, all the ice gone. The Great Axe and the Goblet had sunk halfway as the molten rock bubbled and burst around them. Out of that red mist and stolen shadows, a darkness coalesced in the shape of a massive man.
The Babadon.
STELLA
The Gola Resh laughed, reaching her hands up toward the arched ceiling. "My beloved," she cried out, swooping down to where he formed over the three talismans.
Memories of the Babadon staggered back into my mind. His coldness. His bladed shadows. His strength.
My spirit quailed. I wanted to run and hide, but I steeled myself. It wasn’t over yet.
The Babadon’s shadowy essence spun around as he stretched out his powerful arms. "Beautiful one," he murmured hoarsely, his voice rich and melodic. "I thought I would never look upon your face again."
She flew to him and circled, adoration shining in her eyes. Her wisps of shadow stretched out and spiraled about. Her features blurred, the skeletal structure becoming more apparent. He had not reformed enough for her to touch him.
