Shadow Seed (10 page)

Nasia ran down the dock, unleashing a
fireball from both hands that engulfed Eisar. But to her horror,
the Caidoz ran out of the blaze at her.

“Run away,” Melkor yelled, with the Typhon
Chief doing just that.

Princcora suddenly came crashing through a
building onto the dock. Having horns the size of an ibex goat,
nothing could stand in her way. She also had gauntlets that covered
her hands and much of her forearms. With a single punch, she caused
a huge section of the dock to break apart.

Unable to keep her balance, Nasia was thrown
into the water.

Gillan immediately dove in, quickly locating
Nasia and helping her to a narrow beach path under the docks.

Melkor collapsed a huge building onto Eisar
and Princcora.

Though even with all that weight on them,
both Caidoz easily tore their way out.

“Give me a break,” Melkor said in
frustration.

As Nasia lay on her side coughing up water,
Gillan climbed onto the dock. Eisar and Princcora stood between him
and Melkor.

The sound of screeching wyvern drew Gillan’s
attention. He looked up to see Perak fly past with a strong gust of
wind in his wake.

Gillan noticed the wind didn't seem to affect
Eisar much, while Princcora was carried a good distance and knocked
into Quasairu.

Eisar raised his mace as he went after
Gillan, but before he could bring it down, the Leviathan prodigy
called up a wave of water that turned the ram-headed Caidoz into a
cloud of steam.

“That's it,” Gillan said.

Perak made another pass.

The wind threw Princcora into the water where
she struggled to stay afloat. Quasairu, who wasn't affected at all,
let out a deafening squawk.

Covering his ears, Perak and his disoriented
wyvern crashed into the roof of a building.

“Melkor,” Gillan called, pointing to
Quasairu. “Kill him!”

Melkor made a quick gesture with his hand
that made a spike of earth shoot up through the docks and into
Quasairu, causing him to vanish into air.

“Finally,” Melkor said, exhausted.

Gillan had seen where Caycee was thrown. So
it didn't take long for him and Melkor to find her.

The sight of Caycee's body was unsettling. If
she weren't Vesuvian, most would have thought she was dead.

Gillan lightly shook Caycee. “Please wake
up.”

Though all Caycee could do was barely open
her eyes and mutter. “Blood...”

Gillan gave Caycee one of her blood
marbles.

In seconds, Caycee's bones reset themselves
and she was back on her feet.

Not far, Rovgi and Bilar came around the
corner. Both groups spotted each other at the same time.

“Who are you?” Gillan asked.

“I can't sense either of them,” Caycee
said.

A powerful blast of wind blew against the
Rheans and Bilar shot down the street towards them.

Melkor quickly caused the buildings on one
side of the street to explode, crushing Bilar under a pile of
rubble.

Rovgi pointed her sword, and made a large
piece of rock fly at the three Rheans.

Just before the rock could crush them, Melkor
used his power to stop it in midair. “Gillan...go!” he said,
straining to keep the debris at bay.

“I'm not going anywhere,” Gillan said. He
quickly conjured a small quasi-hurricane of water directly on top
of Rovgi.

Caycee fired an arrow, hitting Rovgi in the
leg, but the Caidoz wasn't affected by anything that was
happening.

Melkor began trembling from concentrating so
hard, and still the boulder slowly inched its way closer.

Caycee fired her last two arrows before
noticing movement behind her. Seeing Eisar, Piscoro, Princcora and
Quasairu several yards away, she screamed.

As the Caidoz began to close in, bolts of
lightning struck all of them, temporarily bringing them to one
knee.

The Rheans were also briefly incapacitated by
the light and sound.

A serpent-headed Caidoz with skin like a
snake stood in the middle of the street.

Rovgi nodded. “Shuo Pu Chi.”

Caycee grabbed onto to Gillan waiting for
something bad to happen.

Looking at the Rheans and then Rovgi, Shuo Pu
Chi let out a long hiss.

At that, the rest of the Caidoz dispersed
into their incorporeal forms.

The Rheans stood weary as Shuo Pu Chi pulled
a piece of jade from his pocket and tossed it to Gillan's feet
before vanishing in a flash of lightning.

Melkor fell to the ground exhausted. “What on
earth was all that about?”

Gillan picked the green stone up examining
it. “I don't know,” he said, placing the rock in his pocket. “But I
have a feeling we haven't seen the last of them.”

Still watching from afar, Cesni was
disappointed. “Hey, I thought there were only twelve of them!”

“Oh,” Ivee said, frowning. “Looks like Mr.
Know-It-All doesn’t know it all, after all.”

Marduk, who couldn't care less, pushed his
cohorts aside as he walked away. “We're done here.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Arloff's right arm was missing and his left
leg cut to shreds. Like an injured lion trying to fend off a pack
of hyenas, he lashed out at any Pelasgian dumb enough to get
close.

When a group of Centaurs and Satyrs dealt
enough damage with their arrows and spears, Arloff collapsed to the
ground.

The blockade of the Pelasgian portal had
failed, and the same battle was now being fought in and around it
in two different worlds.

Along with a few others, Kamala and Darek
were in the Shadow Realm fighting with a Corinthian on a griffin
near the portal.

As soon as there was an opening, the griffin
took to the air and left.

“They're good as dead,” Darek complained.
“They should have never given chase.”

Kamala frantically looked in all directions.
“No, we have to get them out.”

“We can't even get to them!”

Kamala grabbed Darek by the collar. “The
Fenrir will be wiped out if we don't do something.”

They were both suddenly knocked over when a
Centaur came charging through from the Netherworld.

It was Darek who took the brunt of the hit.
When he struggled to get up he realized his neck was twisted at an
odd angle. “Oy, what happened?”

“Hold still,” Kamala said, grabbing Darek by
the hair with one hand and pulling.

Darek shouted at the cracking sound of his
neck straightening. “Cripes!”

“You're lucky you can't feel that,” said
Kamala.

“Lucky?” Darek rolled his eyes. “You might
have noticed I’m already dead.”

Back in the Netherworld, more than half of
the Pelasgians had managed to retreat to the Shadow Realm. The rest
were doing everything they could to do the same.

Amidst the fighting, Arloff emerged from the
ground. He noticed wave after wave of Pelasgians escaping through
the portal and ran after them with five Prometheans tagging along.
When he entered the Shadow Realm, the huge number of enemy
appearing to hold their ground caught him off guard.

Darek spotted Arloff. “Look who joined the
party.”

Kamala immediately ran over to join the
Prometheans.

Pelasgians coming through the portal avoided
them as they regrouped further away.

Arloff was confused. “I thought these guys
would have been running for the hills.”

“They are trying to retreat,” Kamala said.
“But the Fenrir chased half of them through, and now they're caught
in the middle.”

Arloff couldn't exactly see the Fenrir, but
he could tell where they where by the motion of the fighting.
“They're definitely stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

Directly ahead of the Prometheans, the
Pelasgians were backing away as much as they could, but they had
little room to move with the Fenrir fighting on the opposite
end.

“Please do something,” Kamala said. “We don't
have time to go back and get help. They're being slaughtered.”

Arloff looked to his Promethean companions.
“Gather up! We have to make this quick. Kamala, try to clear the
other side of this portal.”

Kamala and Darek immediately returned to the
Netherworld.

Lining up shoulder to shoulder, the
Prometheans charged full speed into the enemy. Anyone in the way
was either run over or swatted aside. It was only a matter of
seconds till they were upon the Fenrir.

“Alright, backup!” Hurok said.

“No time to argue,” Arloff hollered. “You
need to get out of here now.”

“If you say so,” Hurok said, before letting
out a howl that could be heard for miles.

Arloff and a few of the Prometheans began the
arduous task of fighting their way back to the portal. The rest of
them spread themselves out among the Fenrir to keep the Pelasgians
back.

In the Netherworld, the fighting around the
portal was back and forth.

Kamala knocked Stig down, allowing a Centaur
to run away.

“What gives?” Stig asked angrily.

“Arloff is coming through with the Fenrir.”
Kamala said. “They won’t be able to come through if we're fighting
right here. We need to pull back so they have enough room.”

“What about the Pelasgians?”

“Leave them. They’re running away. Besides,
the Prometheans can roll over them.”

The area around the portal quickly became
vacant with scores of Pelasgians retreating.

Soon, the Prometheans came charging through
with the Fenrir close behind.

Off to the side, Darek watched in joy. “Right
in the nick of time,” he said.

“Headache!” someone cried.

Darek turned just as an Eriny flew past and
swiped his head clean off. In the minute it took for him to dig
himself out of the ground, everyone was cheering and the Pelasgian
portal had closed.

Kamala helped Darek up. “Try working on
situational awareness.”

Darek brushed the dirt off. “I'll say it
again. I sure fancy my final form.”

“You really depended on that, didn't you?”
Kamala asked.

“What can I say? It got the job done.”

Kamala gave some high-fives to a few people
cheering as they passed by.

“Oy,” Darek smiled. “We sure kicked the tar
outta them, didn't we?”

“We sure did,” Kamala said. She gave Darek a
big hug and ventured toward the city.

Arloff pushed his way through the crowd.
“Hurok!”

“Yeah?!” came the answer.

It took a moment for Arloff to see the dwarf
standing in front of him just past several people. “What
happened?”

“What do you mean?” Hurok replied.

“How did the Pelasgians get through the
blockade like that?”

“You'd be surprised,” Hurok said amazed.
“Almost couldn't believe it myself. Desperation can be a powerful
thing you know.”

Arloff clinched his fists. “Well you didn't
have to chase them into the Shadow Realm. If the portal had closed,
you and the rest of the Fenrir would have been stuck back
there.”

“Ha!” Hurok laughed. “I'm sure Lilith would
have just opened another.”

“Think what you will,” Arloff mumbled. He
returned to the city among a crowd of people. Moving off to the
side to get through, he found Kamala relaxing on a pile of
straw.

“You Prometheans are something else,” Kamala
said, giving a thumbs up.

“You have my admiration as well,” Arloff
said. “Don't get too comfortable though. I believe Lilith will have
us support those in Rhea. They're going to need all the help they
can get.”

“Is it that bad?” Kamala asked.

“Take a look around,” Arloff answered. “I
don't know about you, but I’m seeing a lot of new faces around
here.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Janah, Nedim and Talik almost tore a door off
its hinges running into an abandoned building. They blockaded the
room with anything they could find.

All three were shell shocked and running on
adrenaline. Blood seeped from various wounds. As they sat against
the wall, explosions and screaming echoed in the distance.

“Such a shame,” Talik said. “I didn't think
they could break through the barricade like that.”

Janah banged her fist against the floor. “It
should have held! It’s those Erinies and griffins and the stupid
portals.”

Talik shook his head and pulled his knees
close to his chest. “Still, in such narrow spaces the numbers
shouldn't matter.”

Nedim tightened one of the bandages on his
leg. “Do you remember what Caycee saw?”

“You mean that poor world that was ruined in
the Shadow Realm?” Janah replied.

“Remember,” Nedim said. “It could be a lot
worse. At least we have a chance to fight.”

Janah turned to peek out the window. Two
seconds went by before something suddenly flew past, making her
flinch and close her eyes tight.

Nedim noticed Janah was beginning to fall in
that yielding state of mind. “Keep it together, Janah.”

Talik crawled to the next room over and
looked out of another window, but it was difficult to see. “Okay,
we're on the third tier. It looks like the shopping district.
Seventh plaza, I think, but I'm not sure.”

“No way,” Janah said. “I got disoriented too,
but if this is the seventh, we covered a lot more distance than I
thought and went in the wrong direction. We have to be in the
eighth or tenth.”

“Eighth,” Nedim said. “The barracks isn't
far.”

Janah began moving toward the door. “Then I
know where we are. Let's try and stay inside the buildings.”

The trio had to sneak along an overhead path
that ran over several buildings.

Nedim glanced over the edge and saw two dark
figures running down the street. There was no way of telling if it
was friend or foe, and he wasn't about to risk it.

Janah spotted Pelasgians coming up on an
adjacent walkway. “Get down,” she whispered, taking cover behind a
railing.