by Skyler Andra
Was he legit? You didn’t get more aggressive and hostile than Quetzalcoatls. Stupid snakes.
A flutter of wings beat in the distance. More hisses rose up above the silence. The wind picked up as if the entire army of flying gantii stormed at us.
“Yeah, well get ready.” I twirled my energetic veil shield, readying it for an onslaught of fire.
We rounded the front of the pyramid where we were met with hundreds of slithering beasts whose tongues flamed. Behind them, the centaur smirked, gloating. But he didn’t stay long, leaving his fiery protectors to do the job he kept them for.
“Bring it,” Tor shouted, leaping into battle before I’d given the word. He slammed his barrier against one gantii, thrusting it aside.
A line of them drifted forward.
“Longrider.” Pascal pointed to the temple.
Ahead, the arrogant centaur surrounded himself with a shield that extended from over his whole head to the ground. Snake guards swirled around the force field as if protecting the respect one. Fire licked from their mouths, ready to incinerate anyone who dared approach. Damn cunning beast knew how to manipulate a simple, God-fearing creature.
Pascal beat at the barrier with his frequencies and the magical force rippled and wobbled but held firm.
The flank of Quetzalcoatls surrounding us drifted forward, preparing to attack. Flaming projections hurtled at my team with a force we’d never encountered. We deflected blows with weapons and shields. Few of our ricochets caught the gantii, burning them. But overall, the explosions were too much.
Jaz stumbled backwards. Tor lost his footing and rolled sideways away from a discharge that nearly hit his head. Pascal and I maintained our shields, but the strength of the repeated hits pushed us back. Only Raze held firm, strong in his footing, striking the nearest snake with his dagger, freezing them with the rune spells on the blade.
“Crap,” I said through gritted teeth at my struggling team.
We needed to catch a break, to cut through the lines of their attack, and turn the tides.
“Move,” I shouted, and we charged forward into the fray.
I proceeded like I’d been trained, fast, efficient and with precision. Snakes dropped like flies in suspended animation. Pleased, I kept up my assault, hitting more gantii, clearing a small window.
But when I glanced sideways at Tor, needing his magic to part the group, a Quetzalcoatl had wrapped around him like a python and squeezed.
“A little help here,” he panted, groping for his weapon, but unable to reach it over the thickness of the scaly beast.
My stomach sank. Stuck preserving the gap in the attackers, I couldn’t help. I went to call for backup when a snake slammed into my shield, and I staggered sideways.
Jaz rushed at the snake holding Pascal captive, but another charged him, bowling him over.
Raze wrestled with a third, who’d been stunned by a grenade but who also bit him for his efforts. He let out a long roar as he tackled the beast to the ground, slashing at the rippling fin behind its head. The beast shrieked and bit him in the arm.
A group of them had swarmed Pascal and head-butted his barrier, forcing him further and further away from us.
Dammit. We aren’t having much luck here.
Three hundred feet ahead of us, the centaur galloped off.
No! We had to catch him. I was not failing this mission and returning a loser. Today, I proved my father wrong.
But every time I tried to inch forward, another snake joined the fray. They spewed fire at the shield I hid behind. To my left, Pascal’s musical blasts didn’t make it out of the cell, knocking him on his ass.
Jaz sucked the gantii that hit him through a portal and dragged it out another one. Using his veil magic, he wrapped a finger of light around the tail, hauling it into the air and thumping it down.
Every man for himself. The battle raged on.
“Pascal,” I barked. “Set Tor free.”
With a nod, Pascal shifted his shield long enough to release a blow that flung our attackers back. Then he struck another tune that made the beast squeezing Tor tremble, unravel, and go slack. Tor crawled free, rubbing his chest.
“Thanks, buddy.” He scrambled behind Pascal’s shield, giving him a quick slap on the shoulder.
Pascal recoiled but recovered quick. Clearly, the action distracted him from his reluctance of being touched.
We needed a new tactic here if we wanted to escape the assault and catch the centaur. The only way we were getting out of here alive was if we worked together as a cohesive unit. Then we might be able to break free of the trap and change.
“Team,” I shouted. “Time to show these suckers we mean business. Form a unit!”
Chapter 7
Knoxe
We all shuffled together as one. Protected on every edge by shields. Overhead, a small opening left us vulnerable to attack. But I wouldn’t let the snakes get another inch over us.
First I ordered, “You’re up, Tor.”
“Yes, Sir.” Tor set his sights on the group of gantii forming a circle around us.
Before they fired another round at us, they swiveled left, aiming at another row to their right. They shot fire at their brethren, setting their wings alight. A row of Quetzalcoatls went down, squealing.
“Hah!” Tor shouted, focusing on the next row.
Even I had to admit that was pretty cool.
“Keep it up,” I commanded Tor.
Next, I turned to Raze behind me, who twirled a dagger and hunched in a defensive position.
“Raze, stick with him,” I commanded. “Give Jaz, Pascal, and I cover while we capture the Longrider.”
“Longrider,” Pascal repeated, stroking his tuning forks, creating a menacing sound, like distant thunder, growing with intent. A force to shake down the temple if he wished it.
I lowered my shield enough to throw off a blast of veil energy from my amulet, warning the Quetzalcoatl to back off. They retreated a few feet, but glared and hissed.
“Pascal, shake the house down, buddy,” I encouraged.
I charged forward at the mass of snakes with Jaz at my side. Bombs of fire hit my shield and exploded at my sides. Heat blasted me, but I kept up my attack. I struck one snake with my dagger, and it froze in place, crashing to the ground. I stepped on its body and pitched forward.
The tune on Pascal’s fork rose in anger. Thunder rumbled all around us.
Startled, the gantii halted their assault, glancing up at the skies.
“Reidner,” one shouted, ducking.
Another growled something I didn’t understand.
“Translation,” I barked at my device.
“God,” it replied. “Angry.”
Good. They thought their god angry. Well, let’s show them.
“More, Pascal,” I shouted, closing in on the Quetzalcoatl front flanks.
He did as ordered, scaling up the intensity of sound. Trees quaked from the vibration. Leaves fell off branches. Flags toppled and crashed to the ground. Moonrock tumbled from the steps of the pyramid. Even the structured rumbled. Pascal created an earthquake of sound.
Another Quetzalcoatl shouted something, and the rest fled. Poor things. Our God, the one that had sent the angels to form the Guild, didn’t act in vengeance and rage. He left us with free will to decide our own fates.
“Good, Pascal,” I shouted to him, glancing over my shoulder, and he met my eye for a fleeting moment, nodding.
“That’s all he needed,” Jaz said beside me, barely a murmur above the quaking of the sky around us.
As the scene around us emptied, and we moved deeper into the holy ground of the gantii, his words hit me like a raging ball of flame. I’d entered this mission so inept at what it took to be a leader. A leader didn’t just command his team to success. It took a hell of a lot more than that. True leader’s supported their team’s strength. Had faith in them. Got the best from them. A little praise went a long way, and I’d struck gold with Pascal.
An invisible fist slammed me in the stomach. I’d been an a-hole, picked on someone who didn’t think the same way as me. Underestimated his true strength and value. He was a fighter just like me. Except he had the added contention of warring with the glitches in his mind…if I could call them that…I didn’t know how else to explain them.
Jaz’s shouted boomed in my mind. “Oh, no you don’t!”
I snapped my focus back to the battle. Behind all the commotion, the centaur retreated from the fray.
Jaz’s palms blazed even brighter. He unleashed a blinding discharge, and I staggered, lifting my hand to shade my eyes. When the light in my vision cleared, he was gone. I blinked, scanning our surroundings, catching a flicker inside the bubble. My buddy had flashed inside it from the ground up, and threw himself on the centaur’s back. The centaur kicked up with fright. Jaz transported them through another portal, into the middle of our battlefield, where he and the gantii clashed.
Classic Jaz technique.
Impressed, I paused, protected by my shield, watching for a few moments. What a move. Jaz had used a portal to sneak his way underneath the force field.
The beast bucked its back legs in a vain attempt to throw him off. Jaz clung onto the gantii’s neck for dear life. With one free hand, he removed the apprehension collar from his belt and click it around the centaur’s neck. Another buck from the gantii caused Jaz to drop the device. Hooves crushed it, rendering it useless.
Crap.
“Get him,” I shouted to the rest of my team.
Raze raced into action, plucking a collar from his belt. The centaur swiveled its rear to face him and bucked. A warning to stay away. Raze hunched low, his arms outstretched, like a ranger trying to corner and catch a stray dog.
Tor frowned, aiming his vision gift at the beast. The centaur shrieked and bucked, having probably lost its vision thanks to the Guardian.
Helplessly, the gantii tried to activate its shield with its amulet. But Pascal was ready, dispensing a high-pitched sound that rippled through that air, and smashed the crystal, deactivating the veil energy. The gantii sped off.
My turn now. I’d have the winning blow to bring this bitch down. I squeezed the runed knife in my hand. With a roar, I lifted it and brought it slamming down to the ground. A shockwave cast outward in an expanding circle. Anything on legs besides the Guardians were brought to a screaming halt, trapped in a pocket of magic that suspended movement.
Shaken, Jaz took a moment to recover before he slipped off the beast. He stumbled on the ground, clutching his forehead. I caught him and held him up.
Raze hurried over and secured his collar to the centaur’s neck. Magic crackled as it activated, preventing any further escape from the gantii. It was now our prisoner. Time to face the music and return to Earth for processing.
***
Two Tollen greeted us in the holding bay for prisoners.
“Welcome back Guardians.” Unison of voice and movement.
“Home run,” Tor shouted, giving one of them a high five, and they laughed.
A row of ten cells extended along the corridor. Bars held a Phoenix and Chameleon captive. The first growled as we passed its cell, staring.
“Delivery of a prisoner,” I advised the guards.
The first sentry scanned the centaur up and down with a look of disgust.
“Heard about this one,” he replied. “Wanted for theft of moonrock from the griffins. We’ve been after him a while. Sly devil kept getting away.”
The centaur scraped its hooves in protest.
Bad luck sucker. You’re caught now.
The second guard hooked a magical chain to the gantii’s collar. Protesting, the gantii tried to buck, but the first guard shot a bolt of electricity into his side. The centaur calmed as it was dragged away to the third last cell on the right.
“You’re back with three hours to spare.” The first sentry gave me a congratulatory slap on the back.
“Three hours?” groaned Tor.
“We’ll have to be faster next time.” Jaz grabbed Tor’s shoulders and squeezed.
Next time. I tensed. If the warden let us out again.
THE END
About the Author
Never say never. That's Skyler's attitude, and she fills her heroines and heroes with that same philosophy. Skyler is an Aussie who loves traveling and her goal is to one day visit every country in the world. When she's not writing, she's snuggling with a good book and her furbabies. At heart she's a gaming nerd, Pilates and martial arts enthusiast.
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Are you curious to read the other novels by Skyler?
1. GODLY AVATAR UNIVERSE:
Operation Cupid completed series
Battlefield Love
Quicksilver Love
Awakened Love
Stupid Cupid - a short story
Operation Hades
Lady of the Underworld
Lord of the Underworld
2. GUILD UNIVERSE:
Guild of Shadows series
Darkfire
Wildfire
Crossfire
Hearthfire - available by signing up to my newsletter http://eepurl.com/dCOqkb
Hellfire
Guild of Guardians - a Guild of Shadows spin off
Witch Hunt
Life’s a Witch
Hindsight’s a Witch (coming 2020)
3. Fire & Shadow Series - sexy archangels!
Fall From Grace
Fall From Darkness
4. HAVEN REALM UNIVERSE
Dark Reflections series
Born into Darkness - a Snow White retelling
Dark Fae Legacies (an Evil Queen retelling)
Poisoned Legacies - available in the Once Upon a Fairy Tale Night collection coming Aug 2020.
More to come in 2020!
Heart of Frost (A Snow Queen retelling coming Nov 2020).
Haven Realm series
Charmed - an Aladdin retelling
Claimed - a Little Mermaid retelling
