by Eric Vall
“What? Why?” I asked, a little bit shocked. “I can get the cipher on my own.”
“I know you can,” she replied as she took her stance, and with a quiet battle cry, she slammed her axe down and created a slide to the first platform. “But who else is going to make your slides?”
“I’d go instead,” Erin started, “but I don’t think my magic is strong enough. I can copy the type of magic, but not the potency, and Ashla’s is much stronger than my own.”
“Don’t sweat it.” Ashla winked at Erin, and despite already feeling like I was going to boil alive, I properly flushed at the insinuation.
Without another moment’s hesitation, Ashla hopped onto her ice slide and landed perfectly on the first platform.
I followed after her and only lost my footing a little as I was coming off the other end of it onto the platform. It wasn’t a bad ride, other than being slippery, but that was only going to pose more of a problem the further down the volcano we got.
“Hold on,” I said to her before she could create another bridge. She stopped, and I ran my finger along the edge of my bandolier until I found the crystal I was looking for. I placed it on the ground and smashed it with my boot. My bullet bass’s armor covered my boots, and though it made me a little heavier and would likely cause me to slide faster down the ice, the metal would give me better traction. I knew there was a reason why I kept it in my arsenal.
“Smart thinking,” Ashla commented, then turned back to the next platform and brought her axe down again. Another ice slide formed, and she slid down to the next platform.
I hopped on as soon as she hopped off and found my deductions had been correct. It was much easier to control where I was going, so the melting ice was less of an issue.
We did this the whole way down, platform by platform, and I’d lost count after about fifteen just because I was bored of counting them.
Eventually, we did reach the bottom platform, and with it, the cipher.
I walked up to it and examined it in its place. We’d gone through so much trouble for this piece of ancient stone, and now here we were. This was the last one we needed, and hopefully it revealed all of the answers we’d been looking for.
“Aren’t you going to grab it?” Ashla asked with a bemused smirk.
“Oh sure,” I grinned, “as soon as I get over the fact that as soon as I put my fingers on it, the lava is going to start to rise.”
I took several deep breaths before I got up the gumption to do what I knew needed to be done. Then I reached my fingers out, and I’d almost had the cipher in my grasp when I heard Erin scream from the top of the volcano.
“What’s wrong?” I shouted as my head shot up, followed by Ashla’s.
“We’ve got company, Gryff!” Varleth shouted back just before both he and Erin disappeared out of sight from the top of the volcano.
“Damn it! How did they find us?” I swore. “We have to get out of here and help them!”
Ashla nodded. “Agreed. Grab the cipher and let’s go!”
Without another second of hesitation, I grabbed the cipher and shoved it into my pouch with the other one I was carrying. No sooner did the cipher leave the rock did the lava start to boil hotter and faster, and within seconds it began to rise.
“Ashla! Hurry!” I shouted.
Ashla brought her axe down and created a ramp that led up to the side of the volcano. Ice glittered and sparkled as it spiralled up along the inside and left a perfectly carved staircase. It was a shame it was going to end up covered in lava, because it was truly a work of art.
Her chest heaved, and her shoulders sagged. I could imagine how much mana she had pushed into the spell, but we needed to move. I grabbed her hand and started up the ramp. The bullet bass’s metal on the bottom of my boots clacked as they stomped up the ramp and gave me the traction I so desperately needed.
As I let go of Ashla’s hand, I looked over my shoulder to see that by the time we’d gotten to the foot of the staircase, the platform the cipher had sat upon was nearly covered in molten lava. I mentally swore and concentrated on taking the steps two at a time. My legs were still on fire from the steep climb up the side of the volcano, but I pushed through the pain.
I continued to climb, and I kept myself moving by remembering my friends needed help on the other side of the volcano. I needed to get to Varleth and Erin. They needed me. I wouldn’t let them down.
I wouldn’t let anyone down.
My chest felt like it would explode as I panted. The air was thick and heavy, and it was hard to breathe in with all of the steam and pressure that had built up as the lava gained more and more height.
I looked down, and I saw the lava was hot on our trails. I shouldn’t have looked, though. I should have kept going. If I had, I would have seen that the ice had melted enough under the steps that the sturdiness had started to weaken.
“No!” I yelled right as my foot went through the step. I stumbled and scrambled to find purchase on the ice, but it was all so melted, my gloved hand came right off.
“Gryff! Hang on!” Ashla yelled as she caught up to me and reached for my hand.
It was too late, though. I needed to think of another plan, and fast.
I didn’t have time to recall my bullet bass, but I did have enough time to summon another monster. I quickly found the crystal for my roosa and crushed it in my hand. The monster emerged and immediately put its giant, metal armored body beneath mine before it skittered up the side of the volcano. I clung to it for dear life, and as we passed Ashla, I grabbed her hand and pulled her onto the back of the roosa as well. Just in time, too, as the ice stairs began to crack as it melted, and the whole volcano began to quake.
An eruption was only moments away.
“I should have used him sooner!” I coughed as I steered the roosa straight up the side of the volcano since it was the most direct route out. Smoke was building up fast, and ash had started to sting my eyes and burn my lungs. Ashla and I fumbled to put our goggles on, and though it did help with the visibility, there were a number of other obstacles that continued to get in the way.
The quaking only got worse the further up we went, and I hoped the roosa was strong enough to withstand the furious tremors without being thrown off. I didn’t have a plan for that.
Through the smoke, however, I saw the sky, still filled with stars and just starting to give way to the dawn. We were almost there. We just had to hold on for a few more seconds.
There was a loud hiss as a giant magma bubble burst beneath us, and I felt a scalding hot rush of steam burn my back and arms. Ashla screamed behind me, and she clung tighter and buried her face in my neck as she cursed.
“We’re almost there!” I called to her. “Hang on!”
I counted. One, two, three, four … within five more seconds we were over the top of the volcano, but the chase didn’t end there. We skidded down the side of the mountain, and my roosa’s feet clawed at the rock to keep its balance as we raced down the slope.
I looked behind us as the ground shook again in time to see the first of the lava bubble over the top and begin its descent down the mountain.
“Not good,” I said more to myself, but I saw Ashla nod in agreement out of the corner of my eye. “Where are Varleth and Erin?”
My stomach sank. I hoped they weren’t hurt somewhere, or taken prisoner, or in Varleth’s case, prisoner again. With the cipher now in our possession, finding them became my top priority.
At the speed we were going, it was a small wonder we didn’t tumble head over heels, or in this instance, stinger over claw. The roosa’s armor was able to keep us grounded thanks to its weight, but I still feared the momentum would screw us over at any moment.
“We have to slow down somehow!” I called over my shoulder to Ashla. “Any ideas?”
“I think so!” she yelled back, and I heard her snap her fingers. Snow flurries began to dance around us, then shoot out in front of the roosa. It piled up quickly and created a ba
nk for the monster to trudge through.
“You think that’s going to help?” I asked.
“It should,” she replied. “Think of it as the equivalent to us running through water. It slows us down, right? This is simply the solid form of the same thing.”
I smirked to myself. Ashla really was a clever girl. It was no surprise to me how she and Arwyn had become so close during her time at the Academy.
With the roosa’s momentum slowed, I had a better opportunity to look for the rest of my friends. There wasn’t any sign of them anywhere, and I wondered if they had by chance ended up on the opposite side of the mountain as we had. It was highly unlikely that was what happened, as I wasn’t exactly paying attention to what edge of the volcano we were climbing over when there was liquid hot magma threatening to consume us both.
The ground shook beneath us still, and I chanced another glance back over my shoulder. Boulders and smaller rocks had started to come loose from the shaking, and they were tumbling toward the base of the mountain at a rapid pace.
To make matters more interesting, there was one boulder about twice the size of my roosa rolling right for Ashla and I.
Oh, goodie.
Chapter 16
“We have a problem,” I shouted.
Ashla looked back over her shoulder, and her eyes went as wide as saucers when she saw what was coming toward us.
“Son of a bitch,” she swore, and despite the situation, I smirked. Many people thought swearing was unbecoming of a lady, and maybe that was true, but we were mages. Not just any mages, but badass mages.
We swore. A lot. And when the girls swore, it was fucking hot.
“Think you can take it out?” I asked.
Ashla shook her head. “Not this time. My mana is pretty low, and if we need to stop this lava, I need to conserve it.”
She was right. I carried an elixir in my bag that would help restore her mana, but there wasn’t time. I had to act now.
“Okay, hang on tight,” I told her, and her arms tightened around me once again as I commanded the roosa to stop.
The scorpion monster skidded on a dime and turned to face the boulder.
“Cut it down!” I yelled, and the roosa reacted instantly.
Its mighty claws unhinged like the jaw of a snake, and as the boulder bounced within a few feet of us, the roosa caught it. Then its poisonous tail reared back and struck the boulder with so much force it cracked and crumbled like a hot cookie fresh out of the oven.
“That was a close one,” I commented, but as soon as I did, two more giant lava rocks came bounding down the slope.
The roosa braced itself and held out its claws, ready to take them on.
This monster had grit. I liked that.
The first boulder had a bit of a bounce to it, but the roosa was able to catch it, crush it between its claws, and scatter smaller rocks and ash everywhere. We weren’t so lucky with the second boulder. It came faster than the one before it, and the roosa didn’t have enough time to react. The rock slammed into the monster with a jarring force, and I felt my hands lose their grip. We were bowled over, and I yelled as Ashla and I tumbled down the side of the volcano with my monster close behind us.
I looked for something, anything, to grab on to, and I managed to get a good grip on a jagged little ledge. I hung onto it with all my might as Ashla gripped my leg to keep herself from falling any further herself.
My arms had taken a beating. Cuts were bleeding across my forearm, and there were bruises forming on my skin. I was in pretty rough shape, and I’d definitely need some TLC when we got back to the airship.
But I was alive.
The roosa clamped its claws into the side of the mountain and skidded to a stop. The metal armor on its body burned bright red from being heated up by the lava rock, and I could see it was staggering for breath.
“Gryff, I’m slipping!” Ashla called up to me.
I opened my mouth to respond, but all that came out was a rather undignified groan. My spine went rigid as I watched the lava creep ever closer, dripping and rolling over ledges and footholes as it covered every bit of surface it could as it made its way toward us.
This wasn’t good. Not good at all.
“Gryff, Ashla! Hang on!” Erin’s voice sounded below us.
I barely heard the sound of cracking ice over the rattling of the volcano and the lava rushing toward us, but it was there nonetheless.
“Let go!” Erin shouted a moment later. “It’s okay!”
Seconds later, Ashla released her hold on my ankle.
I expected there to be a scream, but there was nothing. Weird, I thought, and I looked over my shoulder to see that Erin had created an ice slide of her own for us to descend.
I smiled proudly. Thatta girl.
I let go of the ledge and slid down on my stomach. It was obvious that ice magic wasn’t in Erin’s wheelhouse of expertise, given the rough construction and a few bumps and sharp edges of the bridge, but it was otherwise a brief relief from the heat.
When I reached the bottom, I crawled onto my knees, then wobbled as I stood. Then I took a second to assess the situation from further down the mountain and frowned.
We needed to do something fast.
“Come on,” Ashla said to Erin, and they both rushed forward back up the way we’d come just now. They stopped only about a quarter of the way, though, and they channeled their mana. Their fingers frosted over as they created a blizzard of flurries around the incoming lava, until a wall started to form. It was a relatively slow process normally, but between the two of them giving it their all, it was almost four times as fast.
Building a wall was never easy, I knew. I’d built a lot of them.
The wall was thick, though, and they’d managed to secure the lava to that area for now. I just hoped it would hold long enough until we could find a permanent solution. At the very least, it would buy us some time.
In the meantime, my roosa was still clamped into the mountain. Its armored legs slipped as it tried to find purchase, and they slid out from under its body.
“Use your tail to push you back up,” I called up to the monster.
After a moment’s hesitation, the roosa took its sharp, poisonous tail and jammed it into the volcano to give it the leverage it needed. Its metal body was still hot and steaming, but thanks to the ice wall Erin and Ashla had created, I could tell it was already significantly cooler.
“Okay, come on,” I said to the roosa as it slid the rest of the way down the volcano, and I climbed back atop it, “we have a moody banisher to find.”
The roosa carefully turned itself around and took its time getting its bearings before it began to skitter along the rocks again. I wasn’t as worried about the momentum anymore since the ground was slowly starting to level out. Besides, I had a vague idea that we were about as far down as Varleth and I had been when we brilliantly decided it was a good idea to sprint to the top of the volcano.
“You made it!” Erin called as she and Ashla ran up to me. “Sorry about leaving you behind like that.”
“No worries,” I called back. “Preventing the lava from advancing was the right move to make, and clearly I managed.”
“We have to get to Varleth,” she continued. “I left him by himself to take on those bounty hunters.”
I inwardly groaned. I wasn’t going to say anything incriminating against him, because he was an incredibly powerful mage who could handle himself in a fight. I just hoped his emotions and mind were in check enough to be okay fighting alone.
“Lead the way!” I called to her, and I was determined to find the gypsy and take out those damn bounty hunters once and for all.
Like hell was I going to let them get their hands on this cipher.
Miriam Sharpay would have it over my dead body.
Erin sped out in front of me, Ashla close behind, and we made our way back to the summit. With the lava contained for now, at least on this part of the mountain, we could focus on the fig
ht.
We had nearly reached the summit when I heard and saw the first signs of an altercation on the mountain. Varleth was swinging his sword, and he matched a woman blow for blow with her own longsword. Metal clanged and clashed, and they both looked worn down.
From what I could tell, they had been at it for a while.
There were two other henchmen who stood by and watched as the two of them duked it out, likely because the woman claimed she could take Varleth on her own and refused to let them interfere. I’d say kudos to her, but she was fighting my friend, so no kudos or fucks were given.
“Excuse me, ladies.” I grinned, and I rode my roosa between them as they parted separate ways to let me through.
With a renewed vigor to kick some serious ass, I pulled my kalgori crystal from my bandolier and smashed it into the back of the roosa. The kalgori heeded my silent command to multiply, and they attached themselves to the metal armor on the roosa’s giant pincers.
Now, I had not only a giant armored scorpion monster with super venom, but a razor-clawed giant armored scorpion monster with super venom.
These assholes weren’t going to know what hit them.
I didn’t even think twice about hopping up on both legs and riding my roosa into battle like it was a noble steed. Then I charged at the two bounty hunters who were standing around, and I waved to Varleth as I passed by.
He’d be okay without me for a few more minutes.
The other two henchmen drew their weapons, a crossbow and a hammer respectively, and charged toward the roosa and me. It was a stupid, almost laughable mistake on their part. Clearly, they couldn’t tell an A classed monster when they saw one or else they’d have turned tail and left.
I wasn’t counting on them being very smart to begin with, if our altercation with the rest of the animandu people was any indication, but this was borderline pathetic.
My roosa brought its pincers up like a hammer, not unlike the one the henchman had, but much sharper, and brought it down hard on him. I winced as the blood squelched from his neck, and his body crumpled to the ground.
