Page 81 of Forging Bonds: Part Two

Everyone freezes and listens intently.

“Something big,” Ransom says, his eyes widening. “Or lots of somethings moving together.”

Before anyone can do or say anything, the ground beneath our feet rumbles and shakes so violently that I struggle to stay on my feet. I call Asael to my hand, something tells me whatever is coming isn’t friendly. The ground splits open in about two-meter-wide slices, and out of each slice appears a creature that, like the flying things, looks prehistoric in nature.

They’re standing on two legs, easily seven feet tall, covered in scales, and quite frankly look like a velociraptor except a lot bigger, and have double of everything. Two tails, four little clawed arms, and two big giant snappy heads. Its heads are so big, almost the length of its body, excluding the tails, that I have no idea how it’s not falling over and landing on its faces.

Oh, and it’s on fire.

“That’s not good,” I mutter sarcastically.

The ground is still rumbling, and more and more of these creatures are appearing from under the ground. They don’t start off on fire, but as soon as they have fully emerged, they are engulfed by flames. They don’t seem to be in pain or anything, so I’m pretty sure that they’re supposed to do that, and that it most likely makes them incredibly hard to fight.

The more that appear, the more apparent it becomes that there is no way that we’re going to be able to fight them. There are only a few of us, but there are hundreds of them, and more keep appearing, as I stare in absolute shock.

“Over the bridge!” Evander says, trying to sound calm, coming to the same conclusion that I am, that there is no way that we’re going to win against them.

Everyone starts to move toward the bridge slowly, none of us wanting to make any sudden movements and entice the creatures to attack since, at the moment, they’re all still emerging from the ground.

“Are you sure?” Doc asks worriedly. “It’s not going to hold us.”

“We don’t have a choice, we can’t survive being attacked by all of them. We will get overwhelmed by the sheer number of them,” Evander replies.

Suddenly, they all rush toward us, leaving us no time to try to come up with an alternative route. We all run onto the bridge, moving across it as quickly as we can. It’s a single file, and as I run, I can feel the boards groaning beneath my feet, making me incredibly nervous as I try not to look down at the raging water below. Van’s behind me, and Reed is in front, the others all spread out along the bridge, and I can’t help but shout as I see Doc’s foot go through one of the boards. Fetrick grabs hold of him before he can fall any heavier on them and risk breaking more.

I’ll be surprised about that later, right now I need to focus on getting across this bridge alive.

Glancing back, I see Griff step onto the bridge. He’s the last person on it, and as soon as he’s a couple of meters on, the whole thing disappears.

It doesn’t break, it doesn’t crumble, it simply disappears completely. One second it’s there, and I’m hoping that it doesn’t snap under our weight, and the next moment it’s simply not there. No trace that it once existed.

We all plunge toward the water, and a scream bubbles from my throat in sheer terror as we fall. I may like heights, but I do not like falling.

Evander’s arm wraps around my waist like a steel band as we hit the icy water and plunge below its depths. For a brief and terrifying moment, we’re thrown around under the water, and I have no idea which way is up. Evanderdoesn’t let go of me, and I catch sight of his scaled arm still wrapped around my waist.

He's gone full siren mode.

In seconds that feel like hours, my head breaks the water, and I take a huge breath, gasping for air as I frantically look around for the others. I find them all, including the Draconian team, with their heads above water and seemingly being held still like Evander and I are.

“Are you keeping them steady?” I ask, over the roar of the water.

“I can’t do it for much longer,” Evander replies. The strain is already evident in his voice. “There are too many of us, and this water is magically charged and too strong.”

“Fuck,” Reed curses, close enough that he can hear us.

“I can’t put the ward around us, or do much at all. I tried when we fell. My magic is too worn out,” Ransom shouts over the sound of the raging water.

“The kelpies!” Raiden suddenly exclaims.

We wanted to avoid using them if we could, it’s not something that we wanted to let most of the supernatural world know that we were capable of doing. Having a bond with a kelpie is an incredibly rare thing, and therefore a powerful thing as well. One that will most likely be sought after.

We don’t have a choice though, Evander can’t keep this up for much longer, and the water is moving so fast that we will all easily get swept away, not to mention that there are jagged rocks and fuck knows what living here. If the water is magic, then it could be concealing all manner of creatures.

“What the fuck do you mean kelpies?” Rupert exclaims, looking around and panicking.

There’s no time to explain. The water is starting to move us more and more, and I can feel the tension in Evander’s body as he tries to keep us all afloat. As the guys begin to whistle to call their kelpies, I start to do the same with the intention of calling them all to me, so that the Draconian team canride their own, but the voices rise in warning, very clearly telling me that I should only call Mael. As always, I don’t question them, and I call Mael only.

He appears seconds later, along with all of the others, and Van releases me as I swing up onto his back with immeasurable relief.

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