Calling On Fire (Book 1) (10 page)

"Effective," Toman argued.

"And this looks like it'll be easy," Esset said. "Come on, let's get to our hiding place." His winged horse took off, angling up towards the adjacent hill. The surface of the hill was jagged and littered with boulders and crags—perfect.

Toman and Esset dismissed their mounts so they could hide further away—the stone winged horses were rather noticeable, after all, and Esset could summon new mounts if they had to move quickly. Toman animated two stone boulders into giant bears that crouched overtop of them, hiding them from sight and disguising themselves as the boulders they'd once been.

And they waited.

And waited.

"I hope it's not off terrorizing a village right now," Esset murmured, shifting against the rocks. He rubbed his hip bone—it felt like a permanent indentation had been created by a particularly pokey rock.

"This is the best way to deal with the creature," Toman said, but he shifted too.

"I know," Esset muttered.

"With luck, it's just sunning itself somewhere," Toman said, and Esset knew he worried too.

But what Esset said was, "What sun?" The sky overhead was a uniform grey, almost making it feel like they hadn't left the grey zone. When Toman didn't say anything, Esset spoke up again. "What do you suppose the Greymaker does?"

"Make things grey."

Esset threw Toman an exasperated look. "But why? There must be a reason," Esset insisted.

"Given that we didn't turn grey immediately upon entering, it likely makes it easy to spot outsiders," Toman said.

"Do you think that's its whole purpose though?" Esset asked. He didn't think so.

"I think we should be quiet in case our dragon comes back," Toman said. With a sigh, Esset fell silent. He debated pulling out his summoner's tome to study up, but he'd left it in his mount's saddlebags, not anticipating such a long wait. He shifted against the rocks again. Now there was a rock digging into the side of his kneecap. He adjusted again before trying to lie still.

They had a small gap to watch the world through from underneath the bears. They could see part of the sky, but mostly just the lair below. Esset wished he could see more—Toman was right, speaking had been foolish. If the dragon happened to come up behind them, they wouldn't be able to see it. It wouldn't be able to see them either, but still.

Esset was shifting again—this time a rock was digging into his arm—when Toman gave an urgent whisper.

"There!"

Esset squinted, but it wasn't until the monster swooped down towards its lair that he saw it. The monster landed with a graceless thud, back legs and tail first before dropping down to support itself with its wings. It had forelegs, but they were tiny and held close to its chest. Its lizard-like head was oversized, sporting massive jaws and tiny eyes. It was a muddy brownish-red with heavy, plated scales all over its body. Esset had never seen a creature like this before, not even in his books. "Semi-drakish monstrosity" really
was
the best description he could come up with.

The beast sniffed and gave a large
whuff
, spraying dust around its feet. It repeated the motions twice more before swinging its head in Toman and Esset's general direction.

"Toman…" Esset whispered quietly. He glanced at his brother and saw him grimace, but didn't spare more than that. He knew why Toman was hesitating—the beast wasn't directly beneath his trap. It was still half outside the cave, so Toman's animation wouldn't get a clean grab.

The monster sniffed, then turned its whole body in their direction. It reared up on its hind legs and lifted its nose into the air, and then it sniffed again. As the dragon-beast crouched to launch into a spring, Toman gave the command. The stone bears guarding them exposed them, and the ambush below was sprung.

Toman's humanoid golem separated from the lair's ceiling and dropped onto the monster's hindquarters, botching its launch toward Toman and Esset but failing to restrain it. The beast thrashed and threw the golem off, but by the time the massive creature was facing its attacker, the golem was already on its feet. The golem swung its rough fist back and ploughed it into the side of the monster's head. With an explosion of rocks and dust, the golem's arm shattered up to the elbow, leaving the dragon-like monster looking seriously annoyed. A low, rumbling growl emitted from a cavernous chest, building until it erupted into a full blown roar as it launched itself at the golem, clamping its jaws down around the stone creature's torso.

The golem's chest was so thick the monster's jaws barely fit around it, but stone cracked and fractured under the immense pressure. The golem pounded on the beast's head ineffectively, prompting the dragon-like creature to pick the golem up and slam it against the rocks.

Esset gaped as the golem cracked into three pieces—Toman's animating magic was turned useless with the disassembly of his creation, but his other animations had reached the monster. Three rock snakes wrapped themselves around the beast, trying to disable it. One wrapped around a wing, constricting near the base and trying to crush the wing-bones—or at least tear the tough wing membrane. Another snaked around a hind leg and the base of the tail, handicapping its maneuverability. The third tried to wrap around the other wing, but the monster caught the snake's tail in its jaws and yanked it off.

Esset jumped when something bumped him in the back—his mount. Toman was already mounting his own, getting into position in case they needed to move, which it seemed they might. Shaking himself, Esset started chanting as he mounted.

As the monster stomped the snake it had caught into a fine powder despite its other hindrances, a fiery panther materialized before it. The cat was dwarfed by the monster before it, but the stone beneath its paws was scorched black with the slightest contact. Small flames licked about its paws, but they were nothing compared to the white-hot heat of its claws. Its lashing tail flickered and jumped, tendrils of flames licking off of it, and its body was like a mass of cracked and blackened earth with molten lava just beneath, ready to gush forth at any moment but constrained by the might of pure fury. Its eyes were burning pits that even the beast’s summoner wouldn’t meet for fear of the onset of madness. When it opened its massive maw, there was a flare of light on the rocks, and its roar sounded like a tree exploding in a forest fire.

Not that the cat remained still for more than a moment—it sprang at the monster, its molten claws raking across the side of its face. The dragon-like beast roared in protest, but the attack seemed to do little more than leave black scorch-marks on its hide. The monster snapped at the cat but missed as it darted away, then sprang again. The panther tried to claw the beast's eye, but the monster jerked its head up so it only raked the other cheek.

Esset was mounted before he summoned a second cat, and Toman had taken off and was hovering closer to the battle, sending the chains in to try to wrap around the monster and hinder it further. A fourth stone snake joined the fray, succeeding where its predecessor had failed and wrapping around the other wing. There was no way the monster could take flight without removing them first.

The two fiery panthers harried the beast, keeping ahead of its snapping jaws and forcing it keep moving to avoid their attempts to blind it. Finally the monster reared up and bellowed its frustration before dropping and charging forward. Its run was ungainly, but it forced the panthers to scatter momentarily. When it reached the back of the cave, the monster flung itself at the cave wall, aiming so the snake wrapped around its left wing would strike the rock face first. The monster seemed crazed as it began thrashing unpredictably.

Esset sent one of his cats to attack it, but after a few unrestrained hits from flailing limbs, it sustained enough damage to be banished back to its own plane. Esset held the other panther back—it growled in frustration, its tail lashing against the inactivity. Esset bit his lip—he could see a crack on one of the snakes binding the beast's rear leg; it wouldn't be much longer before that stone creature was cracked in half, but the beast's rampage was keeping him from doing anything about it.

Esset glanced over at Toman, and the crease between his brother's eyebrows betrayed thoughts along a similar line. Then the animator shook his head to himself, and Esset looked back to the monster just in time to see the snakes releasing it.

"Get back, Esset!" Toman yelled.

He's mad,
Esset thought as his mount back-winged.

The dragon-like beast immediately righted itself and roared at the retreating snakes—the stone reptiles didn't go far, but they weren't attacking, either. Esset's heart nearly stopped when Toman steered his mount
toward
the monster. He saw his brother's hand thrust forward, and something metal leave it—the dagger flashed in the air and disappeared into the beast's mouth.

The beast was coiling it's haunches to leap into flight, but its roar was abruptly silenced. Its jaws snapped shut, then opened again, issuing another shorter, smaller roar. Toman's hand flicked forward again—Esset knew his aim and arm weren't
that
good, but his magic ensured that the second dagger, too, found its way into the monster's mouth.

Esset sent his fiery panther in to attack, knowing that the gesture was likely superfluous. The scorching feline pounced and finally succeeded in raking its claws over the beast's eye. Another strangled roar was met with another dagger, and when the monster's jaws opened, Esset could see blood collecting in its mouth. The monster staggered forward, its head dipping close to the ground, and the fiery panther sprang and completed its work, blinding the creature. The monster made a pitiful sound, more whine than roar, and collapsed onto the ground. The panther began attacking it with abandon, gouging at its eyes, not caring that there was little damage left to do. Esset banished his bloodthirsty summon when the dragon-like monster stopped moving completely.

Even so, he descended towards the dead beast slowly. His mount touched down gently and walked over to stand beside Toman. They stared at the dead beast for a long while before Esset laughed with a slight edge of hysteria. Toman looked at him like he was crazy.

"All according to plan," Esset said.

Toman stared, then joined his laughter. "Yeah, Plans A through E," Toman joked. They laughed again before composing themselves and looking around.

"Well, you'd better get a couple of your creatures to saw off some claws or fangs as proof of death. There's no way we're bringing back a whole head as proof, that's for sure," Esset said.

"I hate taking trophies back anyways," Toman muttered. Esset had to agree—it was more gruesome than most people thought, for most people had never seen a real severed head, even that of a beast. Neither Toman nor Esset would ever desecrate a human body that way, but they had brought back heads for a few monsters and beasts in the past, despite their reservations.

Toman's snakes were trying to flip the massive monster over to get at the hind claws, but they weren't large enough to manage it.

"Maybe get your chains to snag the far leg and wrap the other end around your mount," Esset suggested, sitting back and watching. Toman frowned at him but took the suggestion. The carcass flopped over onto its side, and Esset trotted his mount over to take a look as the stone snakes attached to the beast's feet.

"Hey Toman, look at that," Esset said, pointing under the creature's tail.

"Uh, no thanks," Toman replied, looking at his brother askance.

"No,
look
," Esset insisted.

"I think I can live without seeing monster-junk," Toman said.

"But that's just it, it doesn't have any," Esset said.

"It's a girl?" Toman said, still not obliging Esset's suggestion to look.

"
No
," Esset said, not bothering to hide his exasperation. "It's not either. You know what that means, right?"

Toman took too long to respond, so Esset went ahead again.

"Everything in nature has a way to reproduce. This doesn't. It's a mage construct."

Esset and Toman stared at each other until one of the stone snakes fell backwards as a claw gave way.

"You know what, one claw is enough. Let's get out of here before the mage shows up," Toman said. Taking on a mage without preparation was a bad idea.

"I'll scout the area." Esset was already steering his mount out of the lair, fully intending to get some altitude to keep an eye out for anyone incoming on their position. Toman leaned over and took the massive claw the rock snake was extending to him as his chains slithered over and began looping themselves around his mount.

Esset's winged horse pumped its wings in artificial effort, lifting them between the rock faces. Just as he was clearing the cliffs, he caught a glimpse of a disheveled white beard, a thin frame, and red robes.

"NO! What have you done?" The words were formed through an enraged screech. Esset twisted to look again, but he kept his mount fighting for altitude.

The man—a mage, no doubt—was staring at the carcass of his creation, his expression torn between disbelief and rage. Toman had frozen for a moment, surprised in spite of himself, but then his mount pivoted on one hoof and took off at a gallop down the ravine. The action drew the mage's attention, and Esset saw crackling energy build around the mage's cadaverous hands. Esset turned his mount in the air and hovered.

"Toman, look out!" Esset yelled. The mage whirled and threw his hands out before him, and Esset could hear the buzzing of high voltage as an energy bolt streaked towards him instead of his brother. Esset had just enough time to pull up on his mount. The bolt hit the stone horse in the stomach, and it exploded in a shower of dust and sharp pebbles. For a moment, Esset struggled for breath; his lungs couldn't seem to draw in any of the air that ripped and tore at him as he plummeted earthwards. Unable to speak, Esset closed his eyes and chanted the words in his head.

A rush of heat impacted lightly against his body as the fiery bird materialized beneath him. Esset sucked in a breath and grabbed for the base of each of the bird's wings. One hand found purchase, and Esset's downward momentum was shifted into horizontal movement. His other hand slipped, and for a moment, Esset thought he was going to fall again. His summon didn't care if he caught his grip or not. But no, the bird was under
his
control. It veered to swing him the other way, and he caught the other wing and pulled himself into a more secure position on its back.