If so, she had access to even more powerful magic than I’d suspected. These beings had extremely strong auras.
As we dipped into the canyon, eight winged creatures came into view, flying out from behind the distant mountain. They traveled in a V formation, like ducks, but that was their only resemblance to something natural. Huge and made from yellow bones, they reminded me of skeletons of pterodactyls in museums, but even from a distance, I could tell they were much larger than pterodactyls had been.
We descended before I got a better look, and I wondered if my eyes were playing tricks on me. They weren’t really skeletons, were they? Maybe they were relatives of wyverns or something of that ilk with a pale-yellow coloring. After all, the air was hazy. Maybe I hadn’t seen through their rib cages.
What are those things, Zav?
Whatever living creatures they once were, they are that no longer. Now, they are only someone’s undead minions. He flew over the trees in the canyon and back to the abandoned settlement of stone dwellings.
Undead minions? I had a vampire for a roommate and had battled a few zombies in my life, so the concept wasn’t unfamiliar, but I didn’t run into many such beings on Earth and had been told they were even rarer on other worlds. Dwarves, elves, trolls, and many other races stamped them out when they sprouted up through someone’s deal with the underworld. The undead were dangerous and had a tendency toward proliferation. Those who wanted to remain under the radar didn’t make pests of themselves by raising armies.
Yes. They were altered with the powerful death magic of the underworld. Do not let them touch you or break your scales. Your skin.
That might be easier said than done. Any idea why they’re after us?
The creatures flew into view again, a couple miles up the canyon from us. Their yellow skeletal frames and pale leathery wings stood out against the hazy blue-gray sky as they soared in our direction.
And would it make sense for you to make a portal and for us to leave instead of fighting them? I added.
The no-breaking-the-skin rule might be hard to obey, and I worried about what would happen, especially since Zav hadn’t gone into detail. My mind filled in dreadful possibilities.
I am considering that in order to send you back, but their presence here is alarming. I should investigate.
Hey, if you’re staying, I’m staying. But tell me why you need to be the one to investigate.
Neither today nor the last time I came to this world, looking for information on your blade, was I able to make contact with Braytokinor, the dragon who rules Dun Kroth. It is not uncommon for dragons to leave for a time, but had he known about these creatures, he should have done something. If necessary, he should have come to the Ruling Council and gotten help to deal with them.
Zav landed on one of the stone buildings and levitated me off his back.
“We’re fighting here?” I landed on the flat slab of a roof, grunting again at the heavy gravity, and drew my weapons.
You will hide among the buildings and may vex them from afar if you wish, though it is unlikely they will respond to your words. I will destroy them. Zav sprang into the air before I could utter a protest. They cannot shift into smaller shapes, so it should be difficult for them to reach you if you stay inside the buildings.
“Zav! You can’t take on eight by yourself.” And how the hell was destroying them investigating anything?
I will take on no more than two at once, Zav assured me, flying not toward the creatures arrowing toward us but for a dark cave or depression in the wall of the canyon. He landed in it and turned to face them, his back and flanks protected by the rock.
From what I’d always seen, Zav’s fighting style was akin to aerial martial arts with magic thrown in. Would he be able to defend himself effectively from the ground? From inside a cave?
Seven of the creatures veered toward him. One flapped its leathery wings and streaked toward me. Its power preceded it, battering my senses with the same intensity of Zav’s aura. That scared me. Were we facing enemies equivalent to a dragon? To eight dragons?
“This may not go well,” I muttered.
12
The winged creature dove closer, its empty eye sockets glowing as they fixated on me. Its jaw opened, sword-like fangs looking every bit as deadly as the teeth of a living animal—a living predator.
I rubbed Sindari’s charm to call for his help as I pointed Fezzik between those eye sockets and fired.
The creature didn’t erect a magical barrier to bounce my bullets away, and they struck its skull, right where I’d aimed. They ricocheted off the bone as surely as they would have a magical shield, and the creature didn’t flinch or alter its path. Could undead skeletons feel pain? Probably not.
Sindari formed at my side and groaned into my mind. A little more time for preparation would be appreciated, Val.
Sorry, I was on Zav’s back until a few seconds ago. I holstered Fezzik as the creature came in, talons outstretched, and crouched with Chopper in both hands, ready to vex the creature. Don’t let it cut you.
The undead have the power of the grave.
Which I assumed was bad. I had no experience with death magic, and I didn’t want it.
I timed the creature’s approach and jumped to one side of the roof, dodging the grasping talons. Sindari sprang to the opposite side to avoid them. I leaped back in, hoping to slash at the creature’s back end before it passed out of range, but a blast of power hit me like a tornado.
Before I could get my own modest magical defenses up, the attack knocked me from the roof, turning me in somersaults. The power had the chill of death, and it numbed my skin as I tumbled through the air. I glimpsed Sindari, who hadn’t been struck by the power, springing for the creature’s flank.
I twisted and managed to land on my feet in the undergrowth, but the heavier gravity made it more jarring than I was used to. Pain stabbed my ankles and made me pause instead of climbing back to the roof. Maybe I could fight the creature from the ground.
Sword raised, I turned to track it, hoping for another shot. This time, I would use Freysha’s teachings to create a shield around myself.
Sindari had caught the beast’s side and now hung from its skeletal flank, gnashing at one of its huge ribs. It flew past the abandoned village and over the trees, and I lost sight of them.
“Come back over here and face me!” I yelled, frustrated to find myself on the ground and unable to help.
Off to the side of the village, the other seven creatures descended on Zav in a flurry of magic and wingbeats. Their dark auras surrounded his, and I could barely sense him through the malevolent cloud. Because of the trees, I couldn’t see much of the battle either, only catching glimpses through the leaves.
Several blasts of pure power slammed into the side of the canyon where Zav crouched, throwing his own magic at his attackers in waves. Two flew backward, somersaulting as I had, skeletal tails flying over skulls. That didn’t keep the others from attacking.
Zav’s magical barrier protected him, but shards of rock the size of boulders split off the canyon wall. The creatures were trying to bury him in that cave.
I took a few steps in that direction, but a surge of power came from the one that had attacked me. A second later, Sindari flew back into view, tumbling through the air. He got his feet under him, but like me, he came down hard, his breath expelling in a grunt that turned into an angry snarl.