The Unwilling Aviator (Book 4) (26 page)

"Fred!" Pat cried out.

A thick beam of light flew from the top of the stone and broke through the ceiling, raining plaster and rock down on the panicked mob. The onlookers screamed and tried to flee, but people kept pushing into the Senex chamber and the opposing forces collided. Dozens of thin shadows spilled from the beam and swooped around Fred's prone body. The bodies of the shadows lengthened and ruffled wings sprouted from their backs. Short, thin legs that finished in long, taloned claws grew from beneath their fat bodies, and at the top of the shadows sprouted the head of an old hag with sharp teeth and cruel, yellow eyes. They opened their cracked mouths and cackled in high-pitched voices.

"It's my ex-wife!" someone screamed.

"Harpies," Pat heard Ned mutter in disgust.

The harpies snatched Fred's arms and pulled him upward through the hole in the ceiling between the ruined roof and the beam. Another harpy grabbed the treasure and flew after them. Pat rushed forward, but Ned grabbed her and pulled her back. "Let me go!" she ordered him.

"We can do nothing for him. We must find Ruth," Ned told her.

The pair ducked as the harpies flew over the crowd and snatched at peoples' hats and hair. The creatures slammed into the walls and ceilings of the chamber and entrance hall, and they spilled small bits of marble over the crowd. Other harpies remained in the stone room and swirled around their creator in a protective tornado of gnashing teeth and swiping claws. The people moved as a single mass out the chamber door, but Ned pushed Pat and himself against the wall and allowed the mob to pass them.

More screams erupted and a dark figure jumped from the crowd in the entrance hall. It was Ruth transformed into her gargoyle form, and she grabbed the wall like the harpies to gain a view of the crowd. She saw Ned and Pat inside the Senex chamber and pushed off to glide over the heads of the people and into the chamber. The crowd was terrified enough to make room for her and Ruth landed beside them. The room was fast emptying and in a few moments they would be the only ones left besides the harpies. The creatures swooped over them and called in their terrible voices. Ned put up a barrier to prevent the harpies from clawing them.

"Where is Fred?" she asked them.

Ned nodded at the hole in the ceiling of the next room. "They took him up there."

"I will follow them," she promised. She turned and hurried back the way she'd come. It would have been impossible to penetrate the room with so many harpies inside.

Ruth pushed through the crowds and arrived on the portico to look out over the city. Screams erupted from the streets as the harpies swooped down and captured spectators. The demons carried the people over the tops of the buildings and dropped them where they pleased. People were dropped on carts, rooftops, crates, horses, cacti, and into the large, panicked crowds. The streets were filled with the terrible creatures as they clawed and tore at any human or animal who crossed their paths. Guards and twinners alike battled the fierce monsters, but the number of harpies overwhelmed them.

Ruth latched onto one of the columns that held up the portico and climbed to the roof. She batted away a few harpies and looked into the sky. A large group of harpies flew southward over the city and in their claws was a limp figure. She opened her wings and jumped off the roof. The night winds weren't as strong as the day, but she was able to gain enough altitude to match that of the harpies.

Ruth glided through the sky and made better time than the laden harpies. There was a rear guard of a half dozen of them, and the creatures cried an alarm when they saw her approaching. They broke from the main group and swooped toward her with their taloned feet stretched out in front of themselves. Ruth opened her wings as far as she could and the wind pushed her higher. She swooped a few inches over her attackers and clawed their faces. They screamed and clutched at their bleedings wounds, and Ruth flew onward to the ones who held Fred. She was now above the group, so she tucked her wings against her and dove at them.

The harpies couldn't maneuver as she barreled into them. Ruth used their bodies to keep her aloft as she kept her wings tucked against herself, and she clawed at their wings and heads. The harpies screeched and dropped their cargo. Fred fell from their clawed hands and Ruth dove off her victims to her friend. His arms were outstretched above him, and she snatched them and opened her wings. They gently glided fifty yards over the city, but the warning cries behind them caused Ruth to glance over her shoulder. The harpies, cheated of their prize, ignored their wounds and flew after them.

Now Ruth was in the position where she couldn't maneuver, not without risking losing her grip on Fred's limp hands. The creatures flitted and swooped around them, and several dove down and clawed at her wings and back. She cried out and felt her grasp of Fred's hands loosen. Several of the harpies flew below her and grabbed onto Fred's legs. They flapped their feathered wings and rushed forward, dragging Ruth and Fred along for the flight. She needed help if they were to escape these creatures.

"Fred, wake up!" she yelled at him.

Fred's eyelids flickered open and he blearily glanced around himself. His eyes widened when he look down and saw the ground far beneath him. He yelped and flailed so that Ruth and the harpies nearly lost their grips. The creatures who held his legs turned their heads and hissed at him. He froze and whipped his head to Ruth.

"What is this?" he cried out.

"These creatures came from the stone! Please use your magic!" she yelled at him.

Fred fumbled for his staff with one hand and the harpies, sensing danger, yanked on his legs. They stretched him between their claws and Ruth's grip. He felt as though he gained a few inches before his hands grasped his sticks and transformed into his staff. Fred pointed the tip toward the harpies and shot fireballs at them. Their rear feathers caught fire and they squawked and screeched. They released him and flew off with smoke trailing behind them.

Ruth gritted her teeth as all of Fred's weight was transferred to her wounded wings. They fell a few feet and Fred's arm with his staff waved wildly. Ruth grasped his other hand with both of hers and turned them around so they pointed northward toward the Senex. Fred's eyes swept over a nearby harpy that followed them and by the light of the clear night something shined in its talons. The fork.

He pointed at the harpy. "The fork!" he yelled to Ruth.

She nodded and tilted them so they dove toward the harpy. The other screeching creatures turned with them and encroached on Ruth's rear. She cracked her tail and sent four of them tumbling into their brethren, but a dozen more took their place. The harpies swooped down and clawed at her. Ruth winced at every blow to her wings and back. Fred felt something drop on his head and looked up to see it was blood dripping from Ruth's injured wings. He glanced past her at the savages creatures. The harpies cackled and gnashed their teeth.

Fred ground his teeth and his vision was covered with a red fury. He swung his staff at them and sharp needles burst from the glowing stone at the top. They were a foot long and an inch thick, and the points shone with a sharpness that could cut strands of hair. The needles curved around Ruth like a flowering rose and struck their enemies above her. The needles pierced the wings and bodies of the harpies. Their terrible cries of anguish filled the air and dozens of them fell around them.

Without that distraction Ruth dove at their target and Fred faced forward. The harpy with the fork glanced over her shoulder and squawked when she saw their approach. She flapped her wings to escape them, but Ruth's momentum was greater than her wing strength.

Fred looked up at Ruth. "Drop me!" he yelled to her.

"She can't hold you!" Ruth argued.

"Just do it, and grab the fork when it's free!" he insisted.

Ruth aimed her friend and dropped him so he fell the five yards onto the creature's back. The harpy's eyes bulged and her wings flailed as Fred's weight pushed them to the ground. Fred leaned back, aimed his staff and shot out a single fireball that hit the harpy between the shoulders. Cinders of burnt feathers flew into his face, but he ignored them and jammed the end of his staff into the sizzling wound. The harpy screeched and the shock forced her to drop her possession. The fork fell toward the ground, but Ruth swooped down and caught it.

The fireball caught the harpy's feathers on fire and Fred coughed amid the smoke. He pushed himself off the creature's back and dove into the abyss of the dark night. Ruth was there to catch his free hand with her own and she made a sharp turn back to the Senex with the treasure safely tucked in her other hand. The whole of the harpy army followed behind, intent on foiling their plan to destroy the stone.

CHAPTER 30

While the pair had their adventure in the air, those remaining on the ground had their own problems. The harpies followed the crowd out the Senex and harassed anyone they could grab. On the portico one tried to pull Pat's hair and she pulled out her sword and cut of the creature's hand. It screeched and flew off with its hand flopping on the ground at Pat's feet. Someone screamed and Pat looked inside to see Topper cornered inside the entrance hall. Every other human had made it out, but the coward trembled near the doorway on the right.

Above and in front of him were the taunting harpies. They covered the walls and ceiling with their filthy bodies, and others hopped along the floor scratching the fine marble. One of them had Topper's tall hat in her claws and was slicing it into ribbons. Beneath the hat he was mostly bald, and his trembling dome cowered beneath the shrieks and gnashing teeth of the creatures. One of the harpies jumped onto his shoulders and bit at his few strands of hair. Two others grabbed his arms and pulled him in opposite directions.

"Help!" he screamed.

Pat pursed her lips and dove into the mess of harpies. She swung her sword and hacked at the creatures. It only took a few to lose their heads before the others fluttered away from her. She reached Topper and tried to pull him away from the door, but he clung onto the frame like a squid. "Come with me!" she ordered him.

His eyes were slammed shut and he shook his head. "Make them go away first!" he pleaded.

A screech warned Pat of incoming danger, and she turned around in time to parry a pair of claws from a flying harpy. The creature flew over them and joined her brethren in the air. They swooped around the ceiling in a tornado of claws and feathers.

Pat turned back to Topper and held her sword out toward him. "Let go or I will cut off your hands," she warned him.

Topper's eyes shot open and he whipped his head to her. He saw she was in earnest and meekly released his grip. She dragged him toward the entrance to the hall, but they were only halfway there when two harpies flew down and proceeded to kneed Topper's head. He screamed, and Pat grabbed his back and bent him over. She waved her sword above them and one of the harpies grabbed the tip. It screeched when their claw sizzled as though they held a hot poker, and they quickly released the weapon. Pat pushed the bent-over Topper ahead of her and they stumbled out into the cool, but turbulent night air.

While Pat freed Topper from his cowardice, Canto, Percy, Sins and Ned were in the square in front of the Senex fending off the waves that spouted from the dark column. Ned raised his staff and shot dozens of fireballs into the air. Sins pulled countless of pins from his cloak and threw them at the harpies who hopped along the ground. Canto and Percy hacked and slashed their way a dozen yards into the streets and helped the last few fleeing revelers escape the grasp of the harpies.

After the last screaming citizen fled Canto set his ax on the ground and rested against it. He panted and glared up at the harpies. "Damned things just don't end," he grumbled.

Percy knocked an attacking harpy away and joined him. "Not until the stone is destroyed," he reminded the dwarf.

"Aye, but where's that treasure gone? Taken by those damned things, and not a one of us can fly after it except Ruth," Canto pointed out.

Percy looked to the sky and a smile slid onto his lips. "Your wish may have been answered," he commented.

Canto followed his gaze and spotted two dark shapes gliding toward them. It was Ruth holding onto Fred. A flock of harpies followed them, and more arose from the streets to stop them. Canto grinned, straightened, and shouldered his ax. "Let's go clear a way for 'em."

The pair hurried back to the square while their friends who still resided in front of the Senex noticed their incoming companions. The stone sensed the approach of its destruction and its yellow light burst from the holes and doorways of the Senex. More harpies burst from the dark beam of light behind them and covered the distance between Fred and Ruth, and the Senex.

Ned swung his staff toward the Senex and stairs made of barriers appeared. The stairway led to the top of the Senex. He turned to Sins and Pat just as Canto and Percy arrived. "We must clear the air for them," he told his friends.

"Just what Ah was thinking," Canto agreed.

They hurried up the luminescent stairs and to the roof of the Senex. Harpies covered much of the roof, and Pat, Percy and Canto cleared a path so their long-distance attackers would have a safe place to stand. Ned and Sins turned their attentions solely to the sky and they flung needles, fireballs, and burning needles into the air. The harpies dropped like falling chestnuts in autumn on a windy day, and their bodies littered the area. Their efforts made a small path for their two flying friends, but the stone was trying its hardest to close it with more harpies.