Page 6 of Sealed By Fire (The Nature Hunters Academy 2)

Ra grinned.What did I expect?He began channeling his innate ability to control the element of fire. He sent a bolt of flame down his own sword until it blazed white-hot.

“Neat trick,” the demon seethed. The chattering and hissing surrounding them increased in intensity as the spectators began to get excited over the possibility of spilled blood. Ra imagined they didn’t really care whose blood it was. Demons were loyal to none but themselves, but they respected power, and Ra hoped they would honor Xozalgan’s command to allow him to pass unarmed …ifhe won the fight.

Despite the noise around him, Ra didn’t take his eyes off his opponent. He couldn’t risk allowing the demon to get a single slice on him.

Despite his hooves, this one is more snake than goat.Ra heard the familiar voice in his mind. His father. The connection to his ancestors was strong here, especially in the lowest level of the underworld. “Thanks,” he muttered.What am I supposed to do with that information?Ra conjured a fireball and hurled it directly at the demon. The projectile hit the being square in the chest and exploded into a shower of sparks. The demon simply laughed and lunged again. It took every ounce of Ra’s effort to fight the thing off, but he parried the demon’s blows one after another.

“You think your puny little fire spellssss will hurt me, young one?” The demon sneered.

Mind the tail.The voice spoke again in his head.

Just then, a spiked whip flailed around from behind the demon. Ra fell flat on his face and felt the wind from the demon’s swinging tail feather his hair. “You could have said something a bit sooner.” Ra growled to himself as he rolled away, narrowly missing the demon’s sharpened descending hooves as it jumped and landed in the spot where Ra had thrown himself down.

Ra rose to his feet and faced the creature, slowly circling it. Xozalgan spun slowly to match Ra’s pace, careful to keep the human in front of him. Ra feinted forward. The demon recoiled. Then it lunged forward, its sword a flash of lightning. Ra gasped and leaped back, bringing his own sword up to parry as he did so. The point of Xozalgan’s sword missed Ra’s chest by a mere eyelash’s width.

You never were a good listener.“Not helping,” hissed Ra.

Not listening,came the voice’s reply.Snake!It practically yelled at him.

Ra almost smacked his forehead in frustration. Oh, yeah. Snake. And how do you beat a snake? Stay out of striking range, of course.

Ra took a step back and held his sword ready. Xozalgan lunged again, but Ra was already moving backward.

“Sssscared to face me, boy?” asked the demon.

Ra’s face remained passive. He simply held his sword at the ready. The creature struck again and again. Each time, Ra backed away, carefully staying out of range of Xozalgan’s sword and his lashing tail. It wasn’t long before Ra could see the demon visibly begin to slow. Snakes were built for ambushes, not prolonged fights. A fact which Ra was about to exploit. He took another step back, putting the most distance between the two since the fight began.

“Coward!” roared the demon. “Are all humansss so weak?”

Ra merely shrugged. He pulled his dagger from its sheath, took careful aim, and flung it at Xozalgan. The demon lurched to the side, evading the throw. Its tail wasn’t so lucky. Ra’s blade hit the appendage and sliced right through it as the dagger continued its flight, eventually landing on the ground next to the severed piece of tail.

The demon bellowed it’s steamroller-pig-squeal once more and charged straight at Ra. Many things found in nature are dangerous charging right toward a person. A wild boar, a grizzly bear, even a feral dog. These things can charge, leap, and rend, all in the blink of an eye. Snakes? Not so much. They must remain coiled.

Xozalgan thrust his sword at Ra, but his strike was slow and clumsy, overextended. Ra simply waited until the last second, spun, pirouetted on his heel, dodged the demon’s blade, and brought down his own in a wide arc on the back of the thing’s neck.

Xozalgan’s head landed with a thud at Ra’s feet. A noxious cloud exploded from the thing’s neck, which was flailing wildly about as the demon’s body ran around, headless, thrashing in a circle. The horde of demons began screaming, pointing, and hissing. Ra gave Xozalgan’s head a swift kick that flew the head into the crowd.

He spread his arms out wide and bellowed a primal scream full of rage. “Who else will challenge me?”

None of the demons volunteered. Xozalgan’s body ran out of steam and crumpled to the ground. Ra wiped the green ichor from the demon’s neck off the blade of his sword and resheathed it. He walked over and retrieved his dagger from where it rested by Xozalgan’s tail. He eyed the crowd of hellish beings before turning and marching off again upon the path toward the next level of the underworld.

That was expertly done,said the voice in his head.

“Thank you … I guess,” replied Ra. “But how about being a little quicker and a little more specific with the advice from here on out, huh?”

The voice chuckled in his mind. You don’t need my help, Ra. You’re more of a warrior than I ever was. And you’ll be even stronger when you have the girl by your side.

That statement almost brought Ra to a standstill. But he knew it was foolish to hesitate down here, so he kept moving, even while his mind began to race.Where is she?

I’m not allowed to say … yet.

Thanks a lot.The mention of Shelly caused Ra to quicken his pace. He ran for what seemed like miles, though there was no way to mark the passage of time or distance. The path eventually turned from a rocky wasteland to a wooded forest, though all the trees appeared as if they’d died some time ago. He’d not seen hide nor hair of a demon since he’d left Xozalgan’s headless body behind.

Ra rounded a corner and a large … something flew straight at his head with a screeching cry. The elementalist brought his right arm up, swinging out with inhuman speed. His blade sliced the small demon in half, and black liquid splattered Ra’s chest and face. Thankfully, his eyes remained clear of the nasty stuff, so he was still able to see. He shook his head.Can’t let my guard down yet.

He quickly scanned the air and ground around him for anything lurking in the shadows and then began running again. He hit the bottom of the steep incline leading to the sixth level of the Underworld and didn’t lose his stride. Ra dug his feet into the ashlike ground, pushing himself to move faster. Once again, he felt the urgency to find Shelly, to get her to safety as quickly as possible. He wouldn’t allow himself to dwell on the fact that he had no damn clue where she was.

Ra couldn’t say how long he climbed and zig-zagged up a dirt path until, finally, he came to a cleft between two giant boulders. He passed through and immediately knew he’d reached the next level of the underworld. The barren landscape was dark, like a desert of ash unfolding before him as far as he could see.

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