The Way of Ancient Power

by Ben Wolf

  But despite Oren’s words, he didn’t advance. Either he was toying with them, or he was buying time. Given the way he’d fought so far, Axel worried it was the former. And if Oren was really that good, they might not make it out of this alive.

  Falcroné got up next and shifted several long locks of blond hair from his face. He readied his sword again, glaring at Oren. Finally, Magnus stood to his feet, reentered the room, and raised his sword for battle.

  “We attack him together, as a unit,” Magnus said. “That is how we will bring him down.”

  “Ha!” Oren shook his head. “You fink you’re in a dream world, but I’ll bring you back to real life. Then I’ll put you in a real cage, just to drive ’ome the point.”

  “Ready?” Magnus asked.

  Axel nodded and raised his sword, and so did Falcroné.

  Amid the struggle for control, Calum managed to get ahold of his sword, which still protruded from the Saurian’s gut, and he ripped it out.

  The Saurian jerked to his left and wrenched Kanton’s spear from his side. He feigned an attack that got Calum to raise his sword, then he kicked Calum square in his chest, launching him back into the bars. His head took the worst of it, and a white light flashed past his eyes upon impact.

  He dropped to the ground, stunned. His vision fogged over and spiraled all at the same time, and he tried to stand but couldn’t.

  Lilly had her bow out again and shot another arrow, this time into the Saurian’s head. It lodged just behind the Saurian’s eye, and he whirled around and hurled the spear at her with a roar.

  She ducked under it, but the spear pierced her cape and plunged into the wall. She yanked on it, but couldn’t get it free.

  Calum wanted to get up and help her, but his body refused to comply with what his brain tried to tell it. All he could do was stumble as he tried to get up. He couldn’t even cry out to her to warn her.

  All he could do was watch.

  Oozing blood and rage, the Saurian picked up his sword and limped toward Lilly.

  Riley cowered in the shadows as the Saurian thrashed his friends. The Saurian had taken multiple arrows, been stabbed three times in vital areas, and he still hadn’t fallen. At this point, Riley didn’t blame himself for not joining in the fray.

  Except now that the Saurian had pinned Lilly to the wall, Riley knew he should intervene somehow. He should do something.

  Everything in him yearned to emerge from his hiding spot and clamp his jaws down on that Saurian’s ankle and shred his tendons, but his body refused to obey his commands.

  But it was Lilly hanging there, all but helpless. Had it been Axel, he could have stayed hidden forever, but this was Lilly, his favorite of his friends. She’d always been the kindest to him.

  He had to do something. He wanted to do something.

  But he couldn’t. The fear coursing through his muscles froze him in place.

  Like Calum, still trying to stagger to his feet, all Riley could do was watch.

  Lilly’s scream snapped Axel’s focus on Oren. He glanced back and almost caved to his urge to run to help her.

  Falcroné’s response nearly matched Axel’s, except that his mouth hung open for a moment first. Then he turned and darted toward the door, but Magnus caught him by his arm.

  “I need you here, Falcroné.” Magnus’s eyes narrowed. “I cannot defeat him without you.”

  “And I swore to protect Lilly above all else.” Falcroné twisted out of Magnus’s grasp and zipped out the door, even as Magnus called for him to come back.

  Axel refocused on Oren. He wanted to go play the hero, too, especially for Lilly’s sake, but someone had to make sure the ugly Sobek didn’t try something in the interim.

  Oren stretched his arms into the air and rotated his head on his neck in a cacophony of cracks. “Don’t worry, li’l babies. I ain’t goin’ nowhere.”

  Calum’s legs found purchase, and his hazy mind began to clear. He had to stop the Saurian, but a messy flow of thoughts interfered with his progress.

  Where’s Riley? Did he run off again? They sure could’ve used him right now.

  Calum marshaled all his strength and focus, but he only managed a pitiful lunge. Without even turning around, the Saurian whacked him aside with his tail, and Calum skidded into a different set of bars, albeit not as hard.

  He looked around. Maybe Kanton had recovered and could help.

  Lilly yanked on the cape. The fabric tore, but not enough—she was still stuck.

  But Calum couldn’t see Kanton from where he lay. All he could see was the Saurian cocking his sword for a final swing. “Lilly!”

  A gold-and-gray blur shot collided with the Saurian with such force that it knocked him into the nearby cages. It scrambled up to its feet immediately.

  Falcroné tore the spear from the wall, freeing Lilly, and tossed it to Kanton, who was still on his hands and knees trying to get up. Lilly zipped behind Falcroné and drew an arrow from her quiver.

  The Saurian roared and charged forward.

  Oren’s tail crashed into Axel’s breastplate and sent him flying out of the room through the hole Magnus had made. He skidded to a stop against the cage in the lobby and sucked in short, shallow breaths to steady his cognition.

  Through that opening, as Axel tried to get back up to his feet, he watched as Magnus deftly engaged Oren on his own—at least at first.

  They exchanged several blows with their swords, legs, and fists before Oren leveled Magnus with a stunning blow from his tail. He raised his curved blade and whipped it down at Magnus hard enough to split a boulder, but Magnus blocked it with his own sword and an unimaginable amount of strength and control.

  Oren snickered, then he kicked Magnus in his left side twice. Magnus winced and grunted each time, but on Oren’s third attempt, Magnus caught his foot with his left arm, jerked it forward, and swept his lower half at Oren’s other leg. Oren dropped to the floor as well.

  As Axel made it up to his knees, a voice hissed from the darkness behind him.

  “Hey.”

  Axel sprang the rest of the way up to his feet and recoiled from the voice with his sword ready. “Who said that?”

  “In here.” The whispered voice came from the cage, still drenched in shadows. “Let me out, and I’ll help you kill Oren.”

  Metal clattered behind him, and Axel glanced back. Magnus’s and Oren’s swords tumbled across the floor toward Axel, and they grappled with each other in a myriad of roars, grunts, and hisses.

  Axel eyed the lock that hung from the latch on the door. “I don’t have a key.”

  The prisoner chuckled. “That wouldn’t stop an industrious Farm Boy like yourself, now, would it?”

  Axel’s eyes widened.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  “Condor?”

  “We really must stop meeting like this.”

  Axel couldn’t believe his ears… or his eyes.

  The prisoner stepped out of the shadows so his face was visible. Even in the meager torch light Axel made out his piercing blue eyes, the pronounced scar that ran from the outer edge of his left eyebrow to the top of his cheek, and his black hair.

  “Let me out, Farm Boy, and I’ll help you.” Condor nodded to Magnus’s sword. “Your friend’s blade could certainly cut through the lock, if you give it enough heft.”

  Magnus twisted Oren around onto his stomach and shoved his snout against the dirty floor with his left hand, then he wrenched Oren’s right arm behind his back with the other.

  But Oren jerked his body forward and Magnus toppled over his head, losing his hold. They scrambled, but this time Oren mounted Magnus. He drove his fist into Magnus’s snout twice before Magnus managed to get a block up.

  Axel shook his head. He couldn’t justify releasing Condor.

  Instead, he abandoned the cage and charged Oren with his sword raised, even as Condor called him to come back.

  Axel lashed his blade down on Oren’s right forearm, but it just clanged harmlessl
y off of Oren’s scales. Oren’s tail smacked into Axel’s knees, and he dropped, but he rolled away in time to avoid Oren’s fist, which slammed into the floor where Axel’s head had just been.

  The instant Axel made it back up to his feet, Oren’s other fist hit him square in his chest, and he careened across the room until his back hit the wall of logs.

  A torch dropped from its mount on and rolled toward the wall, and some of the pitch slathered between the logs at the base began to sizzle and burn.

  Axel wheezed and sucked in more air to try to catch his breath. Oren’s last blow not only knocked the wind out of him but also sent a bolt of pain ratcheting through his entire body. And it had left a sizable fist-shaped dent in his new breastplate.

  “Farm Boy,” Condor hissed again. “Axel. Free me, or Oren will kill you both.”

  Axel looked back at Magnus and Oren, who again rolled around on the floor, trading vicious punches and elbow strikes.

  If Axel grabbed Magnus’s sword and tried to use it on Oren, he might be able to end the fight. But if he failed, or if Oren saw him coming, there was no way could Axel take another blow like Oren’s punch to his chest. No sense in getting himself killed while trying to help.

  When Oren got back on top of Magnus again and fastened his hands around Magnus’s throat, Axel knew what he had to do. He rushed over and picked up Magnus’s sword, and instead of trying to hit Oren with it, he hauled it back to Condor’s cage. As he hefted it over his head, he realized it wasn’t as heavy as he’d expected.

  A wretched gurgling noise sounded from Magnus’s throat as he strained against Oren’s grip.

  Axel slammed Magnus’s sword down on the lock, and it snapped off in one strike.

  The door to Condor’s cage swung open.

  Calum and Falcroné took turns swinging at the Saurian, Kanton jabbed at it with his spear, and Lilly circled him and pumped arrows into his hide.

  Having Falcroné there to help more than made up their disadvantage, but Calum had no idea how Axel and Magnus were faring with Oren upstairs. He hoped Falcroné abandoning the plan hadn’t ruined everything for them.

  “Lilly, aim for his belt,” Falcroné called.

  Calum wondered why Falcroné wanted her to aim there, but Lilly nodded, nocked an arrow, and let it fly.

  When the arrow hit his hip, the Saurian whirled around and swung his sword at Lilly, but she dropped out of the air under the blow and shot another one at him. This time it knifed through the leather strap around his waist and plunged into the side of his underbelly.

  The belt dropped to the floor.

  And so did the attached key ring.

  Now it made sense to Calum. He called out, “Kanton, can you—”

  “On it.” Kanton’s spearhead hooked the keys and slid them away as the Saurian bent down to reach for them.

  While the Saurian was still bent over, Falcroné whipped his sword at the Saurian’s face. The blade severed through the Saurian’s lower jaw, and dark blood streamed out from the grotesque wound.

  In blind rage, the Saurian roared and whipped his sword in a wide arc. Falcroné tried to block it, but the force hurled him into the bars behind them. Falcroné dropped to the ground, motionless.

  “Fal!” Lilly hollered. She nocked another arrow and fired it into the Saurian’s back.

  “Unlock the cells, Kanton!” Calum yelled, and Kanton inserted a key into the nearest lock.

  The Saurian charged Calum, who stood near one of the corners.

  He didn’t have anywhere to go. He couldn’t get anywhere in time. He readied his sword, and braced himself for his one opportunity to run the Saurian through before it pulverized him.

  A rush of bodies intercepted the Saurian as he approached and stopped his progress. Freed slaves sprang from the two cells that Kanton had unlocked and swarmed the Saurian, who thrashed at them but couldn’t break free.

  “Over here,” called a gravelly voice from the cell behind Calum.

  He turned back and saw another Saurian, one at least as big as the lizard they were fighting, gripping the bars of his cell.

  The Saurian prisoner grunted at Calum. “Free me, and I’ll finish him for you.”

  “Kanton, over here!” Calum shouted above the fracas. Kanton swooped over and eyed Calum for a moment, but he unlocked the cell and set the Saurian free.

  With a roar, the Saurian slave launched into the fight. The other slaves parted, exposing the Saurian guard, and the Saurian slave took him down in one stunning punch.

  The Saurian slave got on top of the Saurian guard and clamped his hands around his head. With one vicious jerk, a loud crack sounded, ending the fight.

  Darkness encroached on the edges of Magnus’s vision as Oren squeezed his throat tighter and tighter. Magnus pushed against Oren’s wrists to try to pry his hands away and bucked with his hips to force Oren off of him, but Oren was stronger. Much stronger.

  The tip of Magnus’s snout tingled, as did his lips as less and less blood reached his brain. Just when Magnus lost feeling in his fingers, a loud metallic pong sounded above, and splinters of wood rained down on him. A shovelhead clanged on Magnus’s shoulder then came to a stop on the ground next to him.

  Oren’s grip released, and fresh air flooded Magnus’s lungs. The tingling in his extremities stopped, and his mind began to right itself.

  Above him, Oren wobbled and clutched his head with his right hand. Magnus jerked up and decked Oren with a hardy blow under his chin, and Oren toppled onto his side on the ground.

  Magnus wasted no time—he mounted Oren and threw punch after ferocious punch at Oren’s scarred face. He only stopped when he realized Oren was no longer fighting back, even though he still drew breath.

  When Magnus looked up, none other than Condor stood before him, clad in a white linen shirt streaked with red and holding a wooden staff in his hand.

  One end of it was broken off.

  Axel gawked at the site. Condor had moved faster than anything he’d ever seen, including Falcroné. Now Oren lay underneath Magnus, unconscious, and the fight was over.

  Behind Axel, the wall had caught fire from the torch, and dozens of people streamed from the basement staircase—mostly humans and Windgales—but also a gigantic Saurian. Axel wearily readied his sword, but Calum popped into view behind him and waved him off.

  The slaves plodded through the main hall and out the main doors, to which the fire had not yet spread. Last of all, Lilly and Kanton helped Falcroné up the stairs. A moment later, Riley’s perky Wolf ears and head peeked up from the basement as well, and then he bounded up the stairs last.

  Axel clenched his jaw and glared at him. From the look of Riley, he hadn’t fought again. What good was that special shoulder armor he wore if he refused to fight?

  “Axel, bring me the chains from my cage.” Condor tossed his broken shovel shaft aside.

  Free for less than two minutes, and already Condor dared to give orders? Perhaps Axel had been too quick to free him after all. Even so, it was too late now, and he went ahead and retrieved the chains from the cell.

  The fire on the wall spread up to the ceiling, eagerly lapping at timber that made up the second floor.

  “Condor?” Lilly gawked at him.

  Falcroné’s head lifted, and whatever strength he’d lacked to make it up the stairs instantly returned to his body. “You.”

  The moment Riley heard Condor’s name, his fur prickled, and he froze in place with wide eyes, only able to turn his head to look. Sure enough, Condor stood near Magnus and Oren, the latter of whom lay unconscious on the floor.

  Condor had a sword in his hand before Falcroné could make a move, and he shook his head. “I advise that you don’t come near me, Falcroné. I’d hate to have to cut you down so soon after we’ve been reunited.”

  “You have no authority to give me orders, traitor.” Falcroné drew his own sword and shrugged Lilly and Kanton away.

  Instinct cranked Riley’s bones into action. He darted to t
he nearest shadow, which happened to be inside the cage at the back of the room, and shrank into it.

  This couldn’t be happening. Condor was alive, and he was here, and someone had freed him.

  Given the sentence Avian had passed over Condor at the council, it made sense that he’d be here, but Riley hadn’t even given it a second thought. Even when the suggestion to find Oren and stop him at this exact place came up, Riley didn’t put it together that Condor might be here.

  Memories from that fateful day flashed through Riley’s mind, and his side ached from phantom pain. Now that Condor was free, it was going to happen all over again.

  Lilly grabbed Falcroné’s arm. “Fal, you’re in no condition to—”

  “Let me go.” Falcroné jerked his arm away. “I’m going to do what Avian and the Council of Wisps should have done on the day of your hearing.”

  Yes, kill him. A low growl rumbled from Riley’s throat. If Condor died, then perhaps Riley would finally find some semblance of peace. Kill. Him.

  “Hold, Falcroné.” Magnus stepped between them, holding his Blood Ore sword once again. “Condor saved my life and helped me defeat Oren—in your absence, no less. You must not harm him.”

  What? Magnus was siding with Condor? He’d tried to murder Riley, and now Magnus was defending him?

  “He’s a convicted criminal,” Falcroné said. “And he’s dangerous to Lilly. He already attacked her once. I will not allow that to happen again.”

  Condor pointed to Axel, who dropped two pairs of heavy shackles at Condor’s feet. “He attacked Lilly, too, but you don’t seem all that worried about him.”

  Axel glared at Condor.

  “No offense, Farm Boy. Just making a point.”

  “I am worried about him.” Falcroné scowled at Condor, then at Axel.