by Keeley Smith
The events that followed happened very quickly although to his eyes the time slowed down so he could see every excruciating second of it. He thanked whoever it was for this, it couldn’t be the puppet master as it worked in his favour, and so far the puppet master was against them.
He knew that Phillip was free falling below him. The look on his face before falling through the hole was a combination of trust and complete shock. The trust Phillip had given him was not one he deserved but one he was so grateful for. He could hear Deyna screaming behind him, her cries were for Phillip. He didn’t need to turn to see that she would be looking under the bridge trying to find Phillip, trying in some way, through a look, an outstretched hand, to say goodbye.
He had other things to worry about, for example, the dog the size of a bear that was flying towards him. When had the dogs grown this big? He shook his head, it was irrelevant. He concentrated on the dog that had leaped into the air and was currently heading directly at him. There was nothing he could do other than to meet this danger head on.
He ran towards the dog in an attempt to counter the attack. If you stood still you risked taking on hundreds of pounds of weight. It would hurt, he was sure. But if you ran at the thing that was coming at you, the weight and power of the two things would clash in the middle. The pain wouldn’t be that extreme.
Well, he hoped so.
Teeth snapped hungrily as he charged at the animal. He cried out as they clashed on the bridge but he managed to knock the huge dog off balance hard enough for him to gain the upper hand.
One to him.
Nil to the puppet master.
The dog flew back into its comrades yelping in pain. He ran towards Deyna. He didn’t care about the wooden slats. They were getting off this bridge right this second.
“Run!”
He grabbed her hand and ignored the way she punched him, her fists were like butterflies attempting to hurt him.
“How could you! How could you!” she repeated over and over again.
“I had to do it! It was the only thing we had time to do!”
“You killed him! You killed him!”
She continued to scream as they ran across the never ending bridge. God, where was the ending?
A piece of wood crumbled beneath Deyna’s feet. He felt the intense jerk on his arm as her legs fell through the hole. He cried out and pulled her clean out of the hole. His shoulder was going to feel that one later.
“Lester! Do it!”
A spark so bright shot out from behind them. He turned, as did Deyna, to see what Lester would do. Stephen didn’t know how Lester knew what he wanted but he was just happy it had worked. Twice now he’d simply nodded at Lester and the man had known what to do. Their connection was getting stronger.
They continued to run full steam ahead whilst looking back at the brilliance that was Lester. If anything loomed ahead of them they were doomed as neither of them were watching where they were going.
Sparks cascaded down along the bridge, a lovely, pure white firework sparkled, zooming into the air and falling like tiny stars across the bridge. It was a nice display to see especially in this rocky dungeon where he was sick of being shrouded by ebony, but they couldn’t slow down to watch it.
Lester flew up and down and around the bridge, gaining in speed with each loop in the air. He grinned when he spotted the first bright kindle of fire spark. Lester continued flying around the dogs which by the looks of things was sending them absolutely crazy. They didn’t know which target to rip first. Some continued to charge at them, others were pouncing at Lester, some already hedging their bets but failing as they plummeted to the dark abyss below.
Luckily for them, the fire spread quickly and the dogs that were chasing them realised this. Even the dogs couldn’t out run the fire, speaking of which, neither could they. The fire moved quicker than a snake, the rope burning up like it had been soaked in a flammable liquid.
Lester shot ahead of them allowing Stephen to finally see the end of the bridge. With a new surge of strength, he tightened his grip on Deyna’s hand as he concentrated on the end and not on the fire that was licking away at the old, dry rope that was the only thing keeping the bridge suspended in the air.
He felt the bridge shift beneath his feet and bit back the curse. They weren’t close enough. They couldn’t make it. The wooden slats moved, crumbling beneath their feet.
“Deyna, go!”
He pushed her ahead of him. She couldn’t run quickly enough but maybe she would have a better chance than him.
The bridge fell from beneath their feet. He felt the last of the wood fall away as he took a deep breath and jumped, hands outstretched trying to grab at the end of the cliff.
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CHAPTER NINETEEN
