Page 122 of Only Cold Depths
“Now, what do you say we kill this guy?” Zane said, his voice returning to its usual sardonic drawl. “Because I have no desire to die in this bloody cave.”
Zane held his sword out as though we were teammates wishing each other luck before a big game. I rolled my eyes, but I tapped my blade against his, making shards of ice spit out of my sword and flashes of fire spew out of his. Then, together, we lifted our weapons and firmed up our fighting stances.
Pollux swung his hammer again, catching another merc in the chest, lifting him up, and flinging that man into the chasm. The merc screamed, his voice growing thinner and fainter, until . . .
The merc’s wail cut off, replaced by the sickeningsplatof his body hitting the bottom.
Pollux caught sight of Zane and me. We were the only two people still alive on the cavern floor, although Asterin was firing her blaster at the mercenaries on her level. She was also using some watchlike device on her wrist to shock the enemies who got within arm’s reach.
Pollux twirled his hammers around in his hands as though they were as light as feathers instead of heavy, substantial weapons. The glow of the lunarium hammers matched the gleam of psion power in his dark eyes. “I’ve killed more than a few Arrows but none of your calibers.”
“You’re not going to be killing us either,” I called out.
Pollux grinned. “We’ll see about that.”
He looked at me a moment, then his gaze flicked over to Zane. The three of us stood there, frozen in our own little bubble of danger.
Then, with a collective roar, Zane and I rushed toward our enemy.
Iswungmystormswordat Pollux’s head, but he easily ducked the blow, along with the one Zane aimed at his chest. In an instant, he spun away from us both. Not only was he strong, but he was alsofast. Before I could recover, Pollux spun right back around and lashed out with his war hammer.
I barely managed to snap my sword up in time to block his blow. Even then, the force of it reverberated all the way through my arm. For a moment, I thought my fingers were going to go numb, and I was going to lose my grip on my sword, but I gritted my teeth and threw up a psionic shield in my mind, walling off the stinging sensation.
Pollux pressed his advantage, leaning down and forcing me to fall to one knee just to keep my sword between us. “I’m going to enjoy grinding your body into dust,” he hissed, leaning down even more.
My muscles were already shaking from the effort of keeping him at bay, and I didn’t have the breath for a reply. My arm started to buckle, and I couldn’t hold him back any longer, so I ducked down and threw myself forward, rolling away from him . . .
Boom!
Pollux’s hammer slammed into the ground where my body had been, and a green fireball shot off the lunarium weapon, scorching the stone.
I used the momentum of my roll to propel myself back up and onto my feet. Zane darted in to attack Pollux’s blind side, but the other warrior sensed the coming blow and twisted out of the way, and Zane’s stormsword only whistled through empty air.
Pollux lashed out with his hammers in retaliation, but Zane spun away from him, and I stepped up beside my old rival. Together we charged forward.
Clang!
Clang! Clang!
Clang!
Back and forth, Zane and I swung our swords at Pollux, who whipped his hammers from side to side in a quick rhythm, easily blocking our attacks. Frustration surged through me. The rogue Hammer was knocking our stormswords aside as though they were made of wood instead of lunarium. We weren’t even wearing him down, even though the two of us were moving as fast as possible.
Finally, after a particularly furious exchange, Zane and I fell back. Sweat streamed down my face, his too, and we were both breathing hard.
“How are we supposed to kill this guy?” Zane wheezed. “He’s not even winded!”
I didn’t have the breath to respond, nor did I have an answer.
“Aw, are you boys tired already?” Pollux sneered. “I thought Arrows were supposed to be the best of the best. You two are bloody disappointments.”
“Now he’s just being mean,” Zane wheezed again.
Pollux grinned, then drew his arm back and threw one of his hammers at us. The weapon zipped through the air, glowing a bright, vivid green. Zane and I dove in opposite directions, hitting the ground. The war hammer shot between us and plowed into the wall.
Boom!
Stone exploded, dust billowed up, and cracks zigzagged out from the hard, smacking impact. Pollux flicked his fingers, and the hammer wiggled out of the stone and zipped right back over into his hand again. Zane and I both got back onto our feet.
