Chapter 16: Chapter 16 – Of Talons and Terror

My teeth ground together, hand still braced against the tunnel wall as I awaited a second death that seemed all but inevitable. The dark blots were threatening to blur out my vision entirely, but still I caught a glimpse of the first of the new undead coming in for landing. And then all was chaos as the Diamond unleashed her power. An explosion of storm-wind force and acid snowflakes.

 

(Innate Elemental Affinity: Air)

 

More shrieks and horrible wet choking sounds issued from above, overlaid with the frantic beating of wings and the almost rhythmic impact of body parts falling to the snow-swept mountain stone just over the rise. I struggled to keep my eyes open, peering to what I could see of the sky.

The Diamond had blown the dead back and even apart, in many cases. But it didn’t matter. Those still intact enough to stay aloft merely closed in once more, the shadow of their advance darkening the snow. I looked to the Diamond, or tried to. Her stance was slumped, and I could feel the absence of mana in her, like a pit at the center of her presence. But she stood her ground nonetheless, holding her hands before her, tail forward and wings spread—exactly the stance Reve had taken at her side.

I had to admire their courage, given that I was pretty sure there wasn’t a single magical thing either of them could do against the zombies, which now dropped one after the other at the mouth of the cave in a seemingly endless spray of acid snow and melted flesh and shed appendages. Scruffy snarled again, swiping out at the air in warning as Destrien tensed behind him, tail beneath his legs and wings drooped low. The scent of fear rolled off of him in waves.

I can’t just let this happen. I can’t lose this new chance so quickly.

But I had no idea what I could do when just staying awake was taking every ounce of strength that I had.

The last of my vision began to go dark. A sharp cry ripped out of the Diamond as the first of the horde hurled itself into her. There was a crunching of bones and a wet impact as—I think—she managed to dash the thing away. And then a blur of movement and a scream from Reve and a bark of command from Destrien as several more closed in. There was a growl from the condorgrag, and then wet ripping sounds. Then a roar of enraged pain from the Diamond.

I blinked, hard. Shook my head and opened my eyes again. A tiny bit of my vision cleared.

Destrien had backed almost all the way up into me, his familiar ripping at the belly of a living-dead kobold even as it strained to reach the beast’s chest with disintegrating claws. And at his other side and just ahead of him, Reve and the Diamond struggled to hold off an ever-growing line of dead, swiping away grasping claws and snapping jaws, every assault aimed for the skyborn’s chests. Their Gemstones.

Fingers weak and shaky, I fumbled at the opening of my dress pocket, feeling for the sapphire I’d stashed there earlier. The one gemstone we hadn’t buried. Palming it, I fought to steady my breath. Then, with all the strength I could muster, I tossed it. The stone landed near the foot of one of the more intact zombies just as it closed in on an already overwhelmed Scruffy.

The thing threw itself sideways. Snatching up the crystal in hands of slimy bone, it spun on the spot, sending a spray of rotting ichor in all directions. Then it scrabbled up the rise of stone and took off.

“Gemstones!” I shouted, or tried to. Even my voice was weak. “They want gemstones. Des—Destrien—”

The Garnet groaned, but was already turning to sprint back to the main chamber. In slow motion, I made to go after him. Not that I really thought I’d be of any help…but I had to at least try. More screams and shouts echoed down to me as I went, and I was barely past the bend when Destrien bolted by me again, his arms overflowing with gems. I kept going. Tripped past a still-prone Keshry and up to the excavated moss bed. Dropping before it, I scooped up what I could of the remaining jewels in trembling hands. Clutching them to my chest, I forced my way to my feet. Turned back to the tunnel.

But before I could even make it to the opening, the others tumbled through it—Reve limping with one eye swollen closed, their hands and wrists reddened. The Diamond looked even worse, her chest and face decked in ragged, bleeding wounds.

The former still managed a snarl as they shoved their way past me to scoop up more gems before disappearing back up the tunnel. But the latter was all efficiency and focus even in her ragged state. Within seconds she’d swept by, collected the last of the gems from the moss and my own arms, and was gone again.

For a few seconds I just sort of reeled. From the overwhelming exhaustion, yes—but also because I was rapidly growing more than a little high on the sudden pooling of all the skyborn’s scents in the well of the cavern. The draw to follow their lead helped strengthen my steps as I trailed back up the tunnel. I couldn’t really rationalize why I bothered, when I knew I was about as useful in this situation as a wet rag. But I wanted to be near the skyborn. Didn’t want to be a coward, trembling down in the depths.

Stupid Moon.

Stupid god-damned kobold instincts.

The others were mostly still when they came into view, only a pace or so back from the tunnel’s entrance, their wings all drooped, tips brushing the stone. Though not a good sign, it made it easier to see over their shoulders to the scene beyond. The snowfall had eased, though some acid flakes still fell. Dead kobolds scurried away and took off, the last of the gems clutched in the tattered remains of their hands. And yet more descended from the clouds, one of them landing weightily upon the rise of stone just outside as we all watched in helpless horror. An undead beast big and intact enough to leer down at us all before taking its first scraping step downward.

The three skyborn took up fighting stance again alongside the condorgrag, or tried to. Reve could barely keep their left wing up, and Destrien’s legs shook where he braced himself just behind his familiar.

The stink of rotting flesh was soured still further as our pores drenched the air with terror. It corrupted completely the skyborns’ usual aroma, the incredible bouquet of their intermingled scents, twisted them into something grotesque and gut churning. Which made me overwhelmingly, irrationally angry.

In the blink of an eye—the color of which I still didn’t know—my blood ran from cold to hot. Despite my physical exhaustion, I could feel the lingering power of mana within me. But I had nothing to reflect.

The zombie thing stopped suddenly in its tracks, its dead eyes gone wide as a spear-tip of orange banded stone burst from its rib cage. Glyphs pulsed to life, clear despite my still-recovering vision.

 

(Innate Strength of Stone)

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The thing became a blur, whipped upward off its feet and then slammed back down in an eruption of snow and black clotted blood to the other side of the spear’s armored wielder.

Thors!

If the remains of the acid snow bothered him at all, he didn’t show it. He flowed from one attack to the next with the meditative grace of a monk and a speed I had no comparison for, expression transported, unreadable as he repelled and crushed one undead after the other. I couldn’t smell him much, not with the way the wind had turned. And I was glad. Because just the sight of him in that moment was enough to set a fire in my core that I didn’t have the strength to put out.

At least…not yet. Because my first friend in this world had just saved us in more ways than one. Again, the mere thought of the ability was enough to call it up, and a bit of focus was all it took to activate it.

 

(Innate Reflect)

 

At once, the mana within me flowed from my core and into my veins, my muscles. Until it felt as though I was wearing a mech suit of light, both shielded and empowered by its relentless radiance.

It was, quite possibly, the best sensation I’d ever felt in this life or the other. I grinned, unable to stop myself, as I let my hand drop away from the tunnel wall, its support no longer necessary.

Even with his almost unnatural speed and efficiency, Thors was quickly becoming overwhelmed by the sheer number of dead. As he struggled to fend off and destroy three zombies fixated on prying his Gem from his chest, I darted forward to meet one of those who’d skidded past him and into the mouth of the tunnel, empty sockets riveted on a spent and panting Reve. Not far off, Scruffy unleashed another hissing snarl before tearing into the other.

Catching the dead thing’s wrists in each of my hands as it reached for the Topaz, I squeezed. The bones snapped in my grip, and I tossed their hands to the ground and crushed them under my feet. It screamed, snapping at me with a loose jaw full of jagged, sharpened teeth.

I punched it in its shrieking face, and it went flying backward. Caught up in the wild light of my newfound power, in the overwhelming influence of kobold hormones pumping though my veins, I roared at it as I leapt forward to plant my knee in its rib cage. Pinning its writhing body to the stone as I clenched my claws around its skull, I wrenched it free from the hold of its neck.

The second that connection was severed, the body went limp. I chucked the head away from me and jumped to my feet, launching myself at the next zombie to make its way past Thors’ defense. I could feel the light of my borrowed strength fading as I grappled with the thing, its claws scoring my scales before I managed to crush it up against the tunnel wall. I was coming down from the strange high just enough to begin to be repulsed by the idea of ripping off another head. So once I’d rid it of its arms I gripped both hands around its neck and twisted until its insides popped and crunched and tore between them and all movement ceased.

The strength and fury swept out of me, and I stumbled back, already reeling at what I had done.

They weren’t alive.

An instant replay flashed through my mind, but I shut it down. Stifled it.

Don’t reinforce the memories. Don’t dwell.

I forced my attention outward. From the looks of them and the bloodied heap at their feet, The Diamond and condorgrag had just taken out the last attacker to get past Thors. Reve had backed themselves up against the wall, left wing dragging, while Destrien limped up to lean against Scruffy, whispering praise to the beast as it began to pur.

As for our Jasper savior, he casually speared and flung away the last undead to attempt a landing near the tunnel’s mouth. The sight of him, the barest hint of his now-intoxicating scent, was enough to distract me for the moment from what I’d only just done. And behind him, only occasionally visible, was a black and flowing blur. Wherever a new zombie landed, it was there…and then the zombie was not. It wasn’t until the glyphs Shroud of Secrecy appeared that I realized the blur was even a kobold.

At last, the final zombies were destroyed and dashed away. At last the onslaught was over. The black blur materialized into a figure at the entrance of our tunnel. The same hooded, moon-eyed skyborn who’d presided over the opening of our initiation. Behind him I caught a glimpse of something dazzling, and then great streams of wind swept the settled snow up and away, washing the view with white. The glyphs that appeared as I focused confirmed my hope. Another Diamond had arrived to clear our path.

The hooded one looked first to the three skyborn.

“Retrieve the Jade Sadra-sa from below and come. We are gathering in GrandHall.”

Packed in there again? With all those skyborn?

“But our initiation—”

The hooded one directed his uncanny gaze at me, cutting off my thoughtless protest.

“Your initiation is over,” he said. “We are at war.”

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