George put on a performance worthy of getting an Oscar. Contorting Brian’s features into an offended expression, he forced a sigh from his lips and started to turn away. He was going for a look that suggested he felt useless and pulled it off in stunning fashion. It was so convincing that he had barely spun away from Edward before the wizard called out to him in an effort to halt his progress.
“Brian, wait. I didn’t mean to upset you, which I’ve obviously managed to do.” Inwardly, he berated himself for being so callous with his friend. The shaman’s reaction stung, almost as badly as witnessing the death of a loved one. He had only been looking out for the man’s well-being. The red-haired man paused, then slowly rotated his head to meet Edward’s gaze. Brian’s mouth opened and shut, as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t find the right words.
“You hurt my feelings,” he finally managed. “I thought we were a team.”
“I can’t apologize enough, Brian. I’m not sure why I said what I did.” Edward paused briefly and let out a resigned sigh. “In all fairness, I was actually coming out from the tower to retrieve you. I hadn’t expected you to be conscious.”
“How on Earth were you planning to retrieve me, then?”
“I had assumed I would have to carry you,” Edward confessed.
“Carry me?” The shaman chuckled as his eyes assessed the stature of the sorcerer. “You hardly look strong enough for such a task.”
Edward’s cheeks flushed to a bright crimson shade. “It wouldn’t have prevented me from trying, though.”
“What is so important that you would attempt such a thing?”
“Katie is near death. The god who might be able to remove the aging curse from her is badly wounded. At this point, it seemed like the only way to save Katie’s life was to see if you could heal the god’s injuries. He is far too weak to attempt the feat right now.”
George lifted the shaman’s hand to rub the red stubble on the man’s chin, trying to make it look like he was deep in contemplation. Inwardly, he was nearly bursting with maniacal glee. The opportunity he’d been hoping for was right in front of him. All he had to do now was to play along.
Chapter 19
Despite the initial attention she had garnered with her landing, Skarr was losing the interest of the enemies farthest from her position. The shamblers that were closer to her, however, did not suffer the same affliction. If anything they had been stirred into a frenzy by her arrival. She had hoped to be the focus of the entire throng, but already some had turned away from her and begun shuffling toward the tower once more. Perhaps they were enticed by the scent of humans. After all, these wretched creatures barely resembled the men and women they used to be once they were seen close up. In fact, the putrid swarm of bodies looked like they were better suited for a graveyard. Many of them appeared to be missing vital parts of their anatomy, making Skarr wonder how they managed to move around at all.
Of those closest to her, she saw a collection of maladies that should have prevented them from being above ground, let alone moving. Nearly every one of the shambling monstrosities had one or more disfigurements which should have forced their ancestors to bury them. Some were missing limbs, or at least parts of them, while others were absent large portions of flesh, leaving their internal organs either exposed or dripping from a body cavity like snot from a child’s nose. It defied all logical reasoning that these creatures could move about.
While she’d been lost in thought contemplating the best way to dispatch her foes, a large contingent of zombies broke away from the main herd and started to stumble toward the tower. Some of them were on fire, victims of the dragon’s molten breath, while others smoldered like the dying embers in a fireplace, sending wisps of vile smoke into the night air. In an attempt to reacquire their interest, Skarr opened her maw wide and emitted a deafening roar. It did not have nearly the impact she’d hoped for. Instead of drawing the stragglers toward her, she had only managed to incite those closest to her. Their once labored movements seemed more purposeful. They were closing in on the dragon fast, though Skarr appeared more intent on the zombies leaving the formation. She charged in their direction, swatting the living dead from her path with her enormous claws. Before she could reach the departing undead she got bogged down in the crowd of corpses.
Completely surrounded, she was forced to abandon the notion of saving the humans near the spire. She had underestimated her adversaries, believing they would be too slow to present a problem. Now her situation had become dire, and Skarr was coerced into trying to save her own life. As she continued to bat the zombies aside, she could already tell that she was fighting a losing battle. Her claws swiped in furious desperation, sending rotted bodies through the air like grotesque hail, but the spot vacated by the flying undead was quickly filled by more of the foul creatures. She flicked her enormous tail in an attempt to clear more room for herself to maneuver. This turned out to be a pointless endeavor as well. No matter what she did, the dead kept pushing forward. The only thing Skarr could hear anymore were the groans and growls the zombies vomited from their disfigured mouths between the hungry gnashings of their decayed teeth.
It was only a matter of time before the ancient dragon could no longer keep her foes at bay. Initially she had been so focused on the fight that she hadn’t noticed the tiny, pin-prick sensations of the teeth perforating her thick hide, but in the span of a few minutes there had become so many of them that they could no longer be ignored. As she lifted one of her front legs to swipe at the horde again, several zombies clung to it as if they had been glued to the appendage. Skarr stared in disbelief at one of the attached zombies. It might have been gazing back at her, it was difficult to tell. The abomination appeared to only have one eyeball, which dangled from the eye socket by a bloody thread, and the left side of its skull was caved in. Skarr wasn’t sure how the corpse was holding on. Most of its fingers were missing. The only thing she could make sense out of was the possibility that some of the zombie’s entrails had snagged on her scales.
She was running out of options fast, despite the size difference she had in her favor. In theory it should have been enough to swing the tide of battle and give her an edge, but the reality of the situation was … there were just too many of them! If Skarr didn’t come up with a new plan soon, she would be buried under the never-ending tide of her undead enemies. Already it seemed as if they were clinging to every part of her massive body. Zombies dangled from her outstretched wings like Christmas ornaments. If many more of the abominations latched on, it was entirely possible that their weight would prevent her from escaping into the sky. Right now, it appeared like the only feasible option. She desperately needed to regroup. It was paramount to her continued survival, as well as something she required if there was to be any hope of getting a chance to redeem her prior mistakes.
In a last ditch effort, Skarr propelled her wings downward and let out a mighty roar. The ensuing blast of air caused her nearest foes to be blown backward, many of them being vaulted through the air like movie stunt men, landing on their backs and skidding across the ground. Those who weren’t launched by the tremendous gust were toppled like a child’s dominoes, the subsequent collisions spreading in a fifty-foot circle around the dragon.
The added weight of the zombies still clinging to her body made her ascent slow and tedious, but Skarr was able to climb above the throng before they were able to regroup. As she gained altitude, she continued her attempts to shake the undead from her massive frame. She knew she wouldn’t be capable of maintaining flight for long if she couldn’t jettison some of the extra baggage she was carrying. A few of the zombies had lost their grip, plummeting to the ground like vile missiles. From this elevation, the sickening splat of their wretched bodies striking the soil was barely audible and the resulting collision of their impact did nothing to disperse the crowd below. The only positive aspect of the situation seemed to be that there were a few less enemies for the humans to deal with. The undead which
had rained from the sky were reduced to nothing more than a gory smear on the ground. Although it appeared that Skarr had finally discovered a means to kill her adversaries, it was far from being an effective method.
The mythical beast continued her aerial struggles for nearly fifteen minutes before finally managing to shake the majority of the remaining corpses clinging to her. With most of them off of her she felt a sense of satisfaction, however brief. For a few flickering moments she was able to regain her focus. If only she knew why the humans had left the relative safety of the tower. In her mind, the only thing their departure from the spire did was add confusion and chaos to an already complicated situation. It would’ve been nice to have prior knowledge about what they were up to. Certainly it would make her decisions easier. How was she supposed to help if she wasn’t aware of the humans’ intentions? Skarr exhaled forcefully in frustration. Where was Edward when she needed guidance? All of the centuries of her existence couldn’t have prepared her for determining the proper course of action in this situation.
Skarr hovered in the sky, glancing between the army of undead and the crowd of white-robed men and women. There appeared to be an approximate separation of the two factions of perhaps fifteen minutes, provided that the humans didn’t do anything foolish like rushing headlong toward the zombie horde. If past experience had taught Skarr anything, it was that mortals often made rash and unpredictable decisions. There was no way to count on them making an intelligent choice. Too often they were motivated by their feelings, which frequently explained why their life spans were so short. Their intentions were normally good, but their frail bodies could rarely back up their bravado.
As she tried to decide what to do, Skarr began to feel a tingling sensation in her extremities that she hadn’t noticed until now. It was mild at first, much like the way an appendage feels when the blood flow to it has been reduced. The phenomenon rapidly mutated, becoming considerably more painful with each passing second. Her blood almost felt as if it were burning in her veins. Skarr began to feel true panic for probably the first time in her life. Although she didn’t understand the underlying cause of her affliction, she sensed that her body was somehow being deprived of oxygen. In a matter of seconds, her wings seemed as if the weight of the entire world rested upon them. Almost at the same instant, the clarity of her thoughts became muddled. Then, as if things weren’t bad enough already, her vision started to blur. She could sense the ground rushing toward her, but was unable to muster the energy to do anything about it. Screams erupted below her, and moments later her gigantic body struck the turf with a resounding thud.
Chapter 20
The scene in front of the stone spire was utter chaos. Amber had sensed that something was amiss the instant she exited the tower, but she hadn’t placed what was making her feel this way until after Edward stepped outside. It was at that exact moment when she realized the shaman was nearby, leaning against the outer wall of the structure. From what she recalled of the man’s injuries, there was no way he should have been there. In her opinion, the extensive damage to his body should have prevented him from crawling, much less standing upright. The only way it seemed remotely possible that Brian could accomplish such a feat was with supernatural aid. This thought prompted Amber to look harder, and attempt to gaze into his soul to find the cause of the aberration. When she did, Amber discovered the one thing she hoped to never see again … the ruthless son of a bitch who had taken her life from her back on Earth!
Her fear and nervousness caused the illumination of her glowing form to pulsate like a strobe light. She glanced back toward Edward, fervently hoping he either sensed something off about Brian or that he noticed her reaction. If his mind was in a state of high alert it was far more likely he would have a chance to avoid trouble. However, as Amber watched his reaction to finding the shaman nearby she knew he had already been duped.
She had just begun to float higher in order to get the wizard’s attention when a tremendous roar shattered the night air. Almost instantly the crowd of white robes took several cowering steps backward. Nervous chatter erupted, many of the men and women expressing the desire to go back inside of the tower. They had known when they left Zeus in the throne room that their mission wouldn’t be easy, but nobody had anticipated the possibility of having to enter combat against a creature that sounded as if it could wipe them all out with a single blow. This was insane! They were farmers, not fighters. This was simply too much to ask of them. Their god might shun them for their cowardice, but at least they had a slim chance to survive if they hid from whatever terrible beast made that noise.
The ensuing panic diverted Amber’s attention from Edward. Despite her own trepidation, she attempted to calm the throng. To some degree her efforts worked. At the very least, the men and women had not fled, although none of them seemed willing to fight. They looked like a herd of frightened sheep, ready to scatter in every direction at a moment’s notice. By the time Amber had soothed the assemblage enough to turn her attention elsewhere, both Edward and Brian had disappeared. It was entirely possible that she had missed her opportunity to warn the sorcerer. Even so, she had to try. There was still a slight chance that whatever her ghostly killer was up to, she could thwart his attempt. After all, who knew how long the sinister man would remain hidden within the shaman’s body?
Amber hadn’t made it more than five feet closer to the tower when the white-robed crowd glanced toward the sky as one. The wind picked up considerably, and a steady thwup, thwup sounded overhead. The skyward gazing men and women shielded their eyes as if they were looking at the sun, attempting to keep debris from blowing into their eyeballs to obstruct their vision. It was far too dark to see anything, at least until the moons of Desolace peeked out from behind the clouds. When the enormous black shape in the sky became visible, discourse started to pass through the gathering of Zeus’ followers once more. Nervous conversations blossomed again, rearing the ugly head of fear just after the men and women had finally begun to bolster a tiny bit of courage.
A sickening splat hit the ground nearby. As those closest to the sound turned to investigate, a gray-haired woman at the front of the assemblage cried out, the noise quickly muffled by a thud. Something had fallen from the sky and struck the elderly woman. It looked like another person, but for an instant none of them could figure out why a human being would drop from the heavens. Then they realized that the object had not been human at all.
The impact had not killed the old woman, but merely incapacitated her. The excruciating pain she felt told her that several bones in her body had been broken. Some of her ribs had snapped, perforating her lungs and making it extremely difficult to draw breath. Not that it mattered. The foul creature laying on top of her was still moving! As it adjusted its position, the elderly woman got a glimpse of its hideous, decayed face. The abomination had fixed its one, lone eyeball on her, and a flap of flesh hung loosely from its cheek as it opened its mouth to hiss at her. She tried to scream for help, but the sound that came from her throat was barely more than a squeak. A mixture of blood and drool dripped from the zombie’s maw as it lowered its head and savagely bit the woman’s neck. The undead monstrosity whipped its head from side to side, ripping tendons and flesh. Blood spurted into the air like a crimson fountain as the carotid artery was severed.
While the attention of many who had been standing near the old woman was focused on the scene of her demise, several other zombies fell from the sky and went unnoticed unless they landed on one of the white-robed congregation. The crowd was clearly panicked and disoriented by the situation. Many fled the area, mostly in random directions … anything to get away from the unfolding horrors. So intent they were to be anywhere other than in front of the stone tower that no one noticed when the night air ceased to billow their garments. A few seconds later, nearly half of the white-robed men and women were crushed when the ancient dragon plummeted to the ground. When the enormous beast gathered her legs beneath her and stood, it was obvious
that the broken bones of the human cushion she’d fallen upon had punctured her belly. As she gazed upon the scattering mortals she let out a deafening roar. The remaining crowd of white-robed men and women dispersed as fast as their legs would carry them, running in every direction just to get as far away from the dragon as they could in hopes that they wouldn’t give the beast an easy target.
Skarr, feeling a hunger unlike anything she had ever felt before, chased after the human morsels. A grotesque crimson trail followed in her wake as her intestines dragged across the turf and slapped over the dead bodies of those she had crushed in her fall from the sky. Fueled by an insatiable need to feed, she stomped after her screaming prey.
Realizing there was nothing she could do to help the humans she’d led from the tower, Amber headed toward the entrance of the stone structure. There was still hope that she would reach Edward in time to warn him about the hitchhiker inside of Brian, provided the evil bastard hadn’t made his move already.
Chapter 21
Once inside the stone spire, the arduous journey up the spiral staircase began. It would have been far less treacherous if Edward could see where he was going. Since Amber was outside with Zeus’ followers and he was forced to play the role of a crutch for Brian, the best he could do was to use the outer wall of the tower as a guide. It made the ascent much slower than he would have liked, but it was the only option if he had any hope of saving Katie’s life. At least most of the obstructions had been cleared on previous trips up and down the stairs, and any remaining spots which had been slick with blood should be sufficiently dried by now.
Desolace Omnibus Edition Page 102
