Page 89 of The Demon's Fire
“I’ve got two more blades, a short sword, and an axe along with my own powers. Plenty. Now go.”
“Don’t make me leave you, Kole.”
“You’re going to put one foot in front of the other while you march your pretty ass up the mountain.” Kole swung her around, swatting her hard on the butt.
He watched her ascend the hill, slipping but steadily climbing. She did have a fine ass. If it was one of his last views, he was a lucky male. Kole twisted to face the deadly hunting party. He only had to hold them until Skyler reached his hide-away. They would never find her. With luck, he would kill or severely injure them so they couldn’t follow her. After his Firebrands found him, they’d track her to the cave. A solid plan. He dropped his pack on the ground.
Trash the hunting crew.Save Skyler.
When the first gagan clutched the rocky ledge, pulling its body over the top, it charged Kole.
With over three-hundred pounds of snarling beast coming at him, Kole swerved to the side, plunging a dagger into the howling gagan’s heart. He twisted the blade.
By this time, a second member of the hunting party catapulted over the edge, landing with a thud. Another joined it. With a gagan at his back and the other facing him, Kole shaped balls of fire while they pawed at the ground, preparing to attack.
There’s a bene to being ambidextrous.
Twisting sideways to keep an eye on both beasts, Kole juggled the blazing orbs like a circus performer. He zinged them at both opponents. The first launch hit a bullseye. One down. Its partner, the creature who had hoped to sandwich him between them, was luckier. Ducking Kole’s barrage of fire, the beast launched an iron claw. Kole dodged the deadly projectile. He didn’t escape the second. It sank into his shoulder. He pulled it out fast, skin and muscle tearing, blood pouring from the wound. But the poison coursed through him.
He prepped more fire, streams of it shooting from his fingertips. This gagan was quick, bulleting iron claws at him. He took one in the chest. The creature launched flying iron again. Kole danced aside. When a blast of his fire ashed the wilding, the beast’s ear-shattering shrieks and howls were like music.
The remaining three in the hunting party topped the ledge, crouching, growling. When they eyed their dead comrades, they approached with caution. Though weakened by the iron coursing through his blood from multiple hits, Kole managed another blazing stream.
One more beast down. A point for the good guy. Two to go.
His fire was depleted. He couldn’t use his electric power unless he got close enough to touch. A dagger, a short sword, and an axe left. While taint from the claws hurtled through his arteries, he was in a race against time. What was faster? Him? Or gagan poison?
With the acrid odor of burning gagan flesh irritating Kole’s nose, the last two wildings stepped back, waiting for him to weaken.
Brilliant strategy.
He shook his head, trying to dispel the dizziness caused by the iron. He looked up the mountain, relieved that Skyler was gone from sight.
Then the bulkier gagan launched a claw at Kole who, struggling against his fog, lurched to the right. Missed. Again, the creature hurled a lethal projectile. Another painful weave to the side. Success. When the smaller opponent propelled its nail, it hit thetarget, lodging in Kole’s thigh. Falling to his knees, he felt the searing agony spark every nerve ending.
He pushed through the pain, shoved to his feet, and rushed the bigger attacker, determined to fight the stronger beast while he still had any energy left. Charging, he drew his axe from his belt. When they crashed chest to chest, the gagan buried its iron teeth in his upper arm. Suppressing convulsions, Kole broke free, swung his weapon around, and planted it between his opponent’s neck and shoulder. The wilding released its hold, howling, stumbling backward. He sank to the ground, injured but not dead.
The last hunter standing came in for the kill. Kole sidestepped the creature. Too late. A claw scraped his leg. The pain buckled his knees.
While the wilding was off balance, Kole rose, turned, and launched himself at the beast, clutching around its waist, sending megavolts of electricity into the creature’s body. No surviving that.
Kole stumbled, shaky from launching multiple fire attacks, using electric power, and the beasts’ poisonous iron. Gathering what strength he could, he motioned at the injured creature he had taken down moments ago, the bloody axe still in its hide. His words were slurred. “Come get me.”
The remaining member of the six-beast hunting crew shoved off the ground and heaved a claw. His eyesight failing, Kole swerved. “Missed.” Once again, a projectile whistled through the air, sticking in Kole’s thigh near the other wound. He fell to a knee, his chin dropping. The gagan charged, but Kole, staggering to his feet, came in low to sink his dagger into the monster. When the creature bellowed, Kole dragged the blade from stomach to chest. Then he thrust a hand inside and ripped out its heart.
Kole crawled in the dirt until he reached a rock to lean against. The bite on his arm hurt like a sonofabitch. He scanned his body, drew out the claws in his thigh, patting around for the remaining nail in his chest.
Found it.
He yanked it out. Unfortunately, he couldn’t release the poison without help. Lifting his heavy lids, he gazed toward the river. Skyler was safe. That’s all he cared about.
It would have been nice to kiss her a last time, to hold her close, to feel her fingers stroke his jaw, to hear her pleasured sighs.
Kole’s eyes slid closed. His head slumped forward. The iron was killing him. His hallucinations took him to the top of the Blud Dunes looking out at the sun setting behind the distant mountains. Dust devils skittered across the red sands while a migratory herd of Scath elk traveled among the drifts. The beauty of his beloved Knife’s Edge lay before him. He hoped his ashes would rest there.
He hoped Skyler shed a tear.
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