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If this didn’t work, it could be the end…
Whispering a silent prayer, she threw her head back and unleashed her power. It surged out in all directions, a wave of fierce magic that called to the living forest.
Everyone halted. She could tell by their stunned expressions that they all felt it, the wildness and purity and magnitude. They warily glanced at each other, and for a moment, all was quiet. When nothing happened after several seconds, her attackers shook off their trepidation, closing in once more.
A rumble echoed from the forest. The witches turned to peer into the darkness. Then came the sound of rustling leaves, snapping twigs, and feral growls.
The witches all looked to Rathmort for instruction, but his incredulous glare was trained on Jessie.
She gave him a churlish wink.
An instant later, a stampede of animals erupted from the forest, galloping over the terrain and plowing into her enemies, knocking some down and biting and clawing and tearing at flesh. Deer-like creatures kicked out with their hooves, knocking men to the ground with the sound of snapping bones. One unlucky individual became impaled on the mighty tusk of a snarling boar that was the size of a small horse. Another creature with the build of an elephant and a stout nose plowed over several individuals. Jessie would never forget that particularly gruesome crunching sound.
The witches panicked, caught entirely off guard. Those still on their feet turned their attention from her to contend with their new foes. All but Rathmort, who scowled at her with pure hatred.
Jessie stole a look at Orik, and her heart sank into her stomach. He was pinned down by Hulk/Gideon and looked close to losing consciousness, but before her eyes, she saw something form around Gideon’s neck…a thick laceration that seemed to be deepening by the second, presumably caused by Phoenix. Jessie could barely see the lema’s quicksilver mass tracing circles around the monstrous dragon’s jugular.
Gideon roared and spewed fire all around, attempting to buck Phoenix off, but Phoenix held her ground. But Jessie feared the lema’s fierce attack might not be enough.
“You cannot win,” Rathmort sneered, echoing her innermost fear. “No matter what tricks you’ve managed to learn.”
Hulk/Gideon gave up trying to dislodge Phoenix and lasered Orik with a killing gaze. Jessie watched in abject terror as salivating lips pulled back from monstrously sharp teeth and knew that one strike with that fearsome muzzle could end Orik’s life; the next slash from Rathmort’s sword could end hers.
Her pulse raced with hammering dread as she watched Rathmort close the distance between them, the face of death burning behind his fiendish eyes. All around them, his battle-raged witches were cutting down her animal soldiers, but not without heavy casualties themselves.
The chaos in the clearing seemed to slow to a crawl as Jessie focused on pulling oxygen through her burning, fatigued lungs. Thunderous howls in the distance, like a call to war, gave her a modicum of hope…until she realized the backup she perceived heading toward them was still miles away.
They won’t reach us in time.
Hulk/Gideon’s head reared back, readying his strike…
Rathmort closed in, lifted his sword…the flame of triumph in his eyes…
Enormous fangs dripped with saliva over Orik’s incapacitated body…
Can’t breathe.Panic flooded Jessie’s veins like a toxin.Can’t lose him! Would rather die…
Then Hulk/Gideon moved with the speed and viciousness of a viper, and Jessie made the only move she could. Gathering every bit of her might, she wrenched her arm back and threw her sword through the air, watching it tumble end over end toward its mark.
Her aim was true.
In a blink, Hulk/Gideon’s enormous, severed head crashed to the ground with aboom, churning up leaves and dust. Her blade had sliced through the wound Phoenix had started. Unharmed, Phoenix quickly retreated to the forest.
The body listed to one side. Orik gave it a shove, and the ground quaked as the rest of Gideon’s lifeless body fell.
Madness twisted Rathmort’s face, churning in his eyes, an anger so pungent and sharp it was like an acrid spice in the air. His aura turned as black as his blade. He bellowed and drew it down to pierce her heart. There was no time to evade. No time to defend. She’d saved Orik, but at the cost of her own life.
I’m okay with that.
Orik let out a piercing roar followed by a stream of fire, the flames rushing toward Rathmort. He saw them coming, and seconds before his blade met her flesh, he sifted out of the way, reappearing at the edge of the clearing just as a flock of snarling dragons landed there.
Head swimming with relief, Jessie slumped to her knees, suddenly feeling the weight of her aching muscles.
Still in his dragon form, Orik limped toward her. He wrapped his wings around her to shield her from the coming wrath, cocooning her in a veil of darkness with only a crack of moonlight visible. As she sensed heat from dragon-fire shooting all around them, she collapsed against his rough hide. Energy seeped from her like a tapped water main, and it was nearly impossible to keep her eyes open. She’d expelled a great amount of magic performing unbelievable feats. Now her body was paying the price.
Phoenix bound through the crack in Orik’s wings and jumped up to wrap her little body around Jessie’s neck, nuzzling her under the chin. Jessie tried to reach up to pet the soft fur between her ears, but her arm fell limp.
Knowing Orik would protect her from here on out, she finally allowed her tired eyelids to close.
