She immediately sprang back at me, both arms swinging inward. I stepped in-between her arms and drove my forearms into her wrists in order to keep the claws at bay. Her flexible arms allowed her to slice my arms a bit but not before I drove my head forward. Being a hair taller than her meant that I was able to avoid her toothy bite as my forehead found hers. The impact caused her to hesitate for just a millisecond but it was all that I needed.
My hands were already inside of her guard so I drove them down with as much force as I could muster. It meant that her arms were free to attack, but I figured it was a fair trade off. The bottoms of my fists found her eyes and something akin to a yelp of pain escaped her mouth. Her claws slashed across my back halfheartedly as my attack must have stunned her. I continued to press forward, driving her backwards, and focusing my strikes on her head.
I threw punches, elbows, palms, and everything else that was available. Her leathery skin seemed to be absorbing the brunt of my attacks but I was still keeping her disoriented. Her claws slashed about wildly cutting me in dozens of places. After a nasty gash across my left thigh I knew I wasn’t going to win this war of attrition. It was time for a new plan.
An elbow strike gave my hand a good angle to grab the back of her head and pull down. My body had already jumped up before I even completed the hold. Yanking her head forward I positioned it in such a way as to say hello to my flying knee. She had closed her mouth enough that I hit her teeth head-on. It sounded like breaking glass as a shower of fangs rained down towards the ground. The impact stunned her for long enough that I could step around and pin her right arm to her back. Her skeletal system might be flexible but I doubted that it was unbreakable. I lifted with all of my might and finally found an odd angle that allowed me to snap the limb. She screamed in agony and her left arm shot back.
She managed to strike back with her left hand in such a way to make us even. Her claws tore into the front of my left shoulder and poked out the backside. The pain was immense and I couldn’t help but scream as my left arm went numb. At that point my instincts took over.
I reached my right hand across her face and felt her busted teeth sink into my forearm. Pain surged through my body as I snapped her head around and pulled my arm free of her bite. Pushing my chest against her back in order to keep her from turning with it, I twisted with every ounce of strength in my body. I spun her head around until her eyes were looking straight into mine. There was a series of pops and cracks as I turned her head past the breaking point. I was breathing through gritted teeth as the life faded from her eyes.
Ignoring the pain, I managed to pull her claws out of my shoulder. She dropped to the ground like a pile of squishy leather. A hissing sound preceded her body transforming into gray goo. The hissing intensified as the goo evaporated into a noxious smelling gas. After a few moments the cloud of vapor had all but vanished. I turned my battered body towards Visine just as he flung his opponent’s corpse to the ground. The same hissing sound accompanied his victory.
Visine and I were in rough shape, shuffling ourselves forward as quickly as we could. The orbus was flashing so fast at this point that it was almost a solid color. Something deep down in my gut told me that when it was solid red we were too late. Adrenaline and stubbornness allowed me to temporarily ignore the millions of pains across my body and sprint towards the Servant. Visine and I reached the perimeter of the rocks at about the same time. Neither of us hesitated as we plunged into the wall of light.
It felt like my entire body had just been flash burned. Thousands of invisible needles were stabbing me from every direction. The smell of burning flesh greeting my nostrils as my body locked up from the shock. My momentum carried me forward and past the burning shield, my body falling about ten feet short of the orbus. As the tingling started to fade I lifted my head enough to see the Servant. I caught a glimpse of the deep red color of my skin as I forced my arms under me and pushed against the ground in an attempt to stand.
Every movement was a fight. I half crawled, half stumbled forward reaching for the orbus. I just wanted to grab hold of one of those struts and pull. If I could break it or even shift its position it might be enough to interrupt the spell. My hand was just inches away when the flashing ceased and the sphere shined a solid red. There was a bright flash of crimson as a thunderous beam of energy exploded up into the sky.
A shock wave of force erupted from the orbus and flung me onto my back. I had a great vantage point to look up and see the beam coalesce into the image of a woman. She was over a hundred feet tall and radiating power. Her body was semi-translucent and wavering like she was a spirit. She tilted her head and stretched out her arms as if she was waking from a good night’s sleep. Her image became more solid and it was harder and harder to see the night sky behind her. At that point my attention was drawn to an evil cackle coming from the direction of the Servant.
From my prone position I had to basically crank my neck and stare at my feet. But I could see the Servant with his head back and his arms out as if he was basking in Morgana’s glow. The super-villain laugh of victory was causing his whole body to shake with joy. Then the laughing stopped and his whole body went rigid. I thought I heard one final gasp as his entire body turned to ash. It held there for a moment before gravity claimed a victory and sent it all crashing down to the earth in a huge puff of gray dust. The orbus followed his lead and melted into a thick puddle that looked like mercury. I wanted to cheer but I couldn’t spare the energy. It was taking everything that I had left just to get to my feet.
I couldn’t tell you how either of us managed to stand up, let along walk. My movements were slow and my body weighed a ton. I really wanted to lie back down and take a nap. But I shuffled over and met Visine in the middle. It took an enormous effort to turn my head, but I glanced at the pile of ash before meeting Visine’s gaze.
“So, the Servant’s dead.”
“Yup,” he replied.
The herculean effort of tilting my head back allowed me to see Morgana in all of her glory. She wore long flowing red robes very similar to the ones that Servant had worn. Her dark hair was dancing around her head almost as if it was alive. I glanced back down at Visine and noticed how bad he looked. There were more cuts on his body than I could count. His skin was burned red just like mine and I was pretty sure that he was missing an eye. As for me, I couldn’t move my left arm and my right was dripping blood. The gash in my left thigh throbbed and my whole body felt like it had been thrown in the microwave. Things didn’t look good. Speaking was slow and painful. But I met Visine’s eye and said the only thing that I could.
“I think we can take her.”
Struggling through the pain he raised his middle finger.
Chapter 27
Visine’s laughter stopped abruptly. There was a white light building in his mouth as if he was regurgitating a flashlight. Then his eye and his hands started to glow with the same white light. His body then shot spread eagle as the white light blasted out of his hands, feet, mouth, ears, and eyes. I assumed that it was Morgana trying to finish what the Servant had started. But I didn’t care how powerful she was. I wasn’t going to stand idly by and watch a friend get fried. I reached forward in the hope that I might knock him out of the path of whatever spell was hitting him. But the second that I made contact with him a blinding white light forced me to close my eyes. When I opened them back up I felt like I was in a dream.
Visine was still standing in front of me but everything was different. He had two eyes again, his skin was back to its pre-burned color and in fact I didn’t see a single scratch on him. Full medieval plate mail armor had replaced his clothing and he looked to be about fifty pounds lighter. We both now stood in a large room with coats of arms hanging on blocky castle walls. Four other knights in armor, one of whom looked exactly like Dirk Camalon, stood next to him. I assumed that the other three were Visine’s dead immortal friends from the case file. In unison the five knights knelt on bended knee as someone entered
the room behind me. I turned to see an old man in faded blue robes with a long white beard. Somehow I knew instantly that it was Merlin.
With a simple wave of his hand Merlin bid the knights to rise. I could see that he was speaking but I couldn’t hear the words. Apparently someone screwed up the audio connection in this vision. I attempted to read Merlin’s lips but with the thick beard it was a struggle. As near as I could tell he mentioned honor and carrying on the good fight and living forever. Merlin then raised his left hand and stretched his fingers wide as the same white light that brought me here started to overtake his hand. He asked a final question and I could feel all of the knights in the room answer “Yes”.
Then in turn each of Merlin’s fingers fired a blast of white light at one of the knights. His pinky finger set the shortest knight a glow. The old wizard mouthed something that looked like “knowledge and understanding” before the glow ceased. The next knight was blasted by white light from Merlin’s ring finger. I could see Merlin say something about “chivalry and compassion” before the light stopped. The light from Merlin’s middle finger than shot out and enveloped Dirk. Merlin mouthed something about “determination and strength”. The index finger blasted the next knight and Merlin talked of “leadership and direction”. Then it was Visine’s turn.
The blast shot forth from Merlin’s thumb and completely covered Visine in the white light. Merlin spoke of “loyalty and unity” before the light faded. Visine then turned towards his fellow knights and everyone started smiling and clasping each other on the shoulders. This time the entire room began to glow with the white light until it was so bright that I had to shut my eyes. I opened my eyes to find that Visine and I were back in the circle in the middle of the woods. All of the pains of battle returned to me and I could see that he was also his former banged up self. I looked up at Morgana, who was still looming above us ready to destroy the world, and wondered if I had the strength left to kick her. At about that point Visine collapsed to his knees.
Before I could move to check on him he flung his hands out to his sides, snapped his head back, and started screaming at the heavens. The same white light as before burst forth from his mouth and ascended into the sky next to Morgana. From the fountain of white energy the spectral image of Merlin appeared. He stood ready to battle Morgana. And then I understood why they wanted to kill Visine and his friends. They were the key to bringing Merlin back during our hour of need. Now two of the most powerful magical beings that ever lived were towering above us and about to fight for the fate of the world. It was probably going to be one of the greatest battles that anyone would ever see. But as I looked over at my friend there was only one thought that ran though my mind.
“I am so sick of magic,” I said.
“Makes two of us,” Visine responded.
“I think you owe me a story. How about I buy you a drink,” I smiled.
“Deal,” Visine nodded.
With that I stumbled over and helped Visine to his feet as a cosmic battle took place over our heads. Neither of us bothered to look back as we started our slow shuffle towards the car. Every step sent a new wave of pain through my body and I couldn’t help but think about one very big mistake we had made. I decided that it was Visine’s job to make sure that it never happened again.
“Hey, next time we save the world, I need you to do me a favor.”
“What’s that?” Visine asked.
“Remind me to park closer,” I sighed.
We both started laughing and it really, really hurt.
The End
Thanks for reading
Keep an eye out for G.H.O.S.T. Teams Book 2 later this year
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G.H.O.S.T. Teams: Book 1 - Magic Page 25
