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35


Ooo, thought Poplock gleefully. That’s my signal!

He had no idea how Xavier did what he did, but his timing was superb, and the little Toad knew exactly how to exploit timing. From the vantage point in a tree that he’d reached while everyone else was focused on the two eerily similar young men, he took careful aim and put a silver-coated needle right through the nearest mazakh’s eye.

The tiny, carefully inscribed runes etched on that needle exploded into ice and fire and the reptilian creature shrieked, clawing at its face. The others spun around, seeking the source of the attack, one returning fire with a quick incantation and a gesture.

Even before the gesture was completed, Poplock hurled himself from the tree. Down down down got to get DOWN!

Fire detonated against the tree, centered almost where he had been sitting, and the concussion knocked him another several feet. The impact wasn’t too bad—when you were as small as he was, falling actually wasn’t nearly as dangerous as it was to the big people. Much worse was the fact that three of the skeletal hopping things seemed to have caught sight of his desperate leap. They bounded towards him, sand howling outwards, blotting out sight, stinging his skin.

Nictitating membranes wiping furiously, Poplock dove between two rocks, but the wind howled louder and blasted him straight through and out the other side. There was another shout from behind and he thought it was Tobimar’s voice, but he couldn’t tell if it was the sort of shout that means you’re free, or about to die. Gotta worry about me first, can’t help anyone if I’m skewered.

Two clawed, bone-white legs slammed down into the earth scant inches away. This stuff doesn’t impede their vision!

He still had an advantage of size, and the thing being so close gave him an inspiration. With a bound of his own he was on the thing, scurrying up through its ribcage. The other demons hesitated, obviously not willing to chop their companion down; the one he was inside grabbed and snatched, trying to get him as he clambered swiftly upward. Whups! Missed me! Ha, now I’m on your spine! Hard to scratch back here isn’t it? Hey, now, getting out a weapon is cheating. Back on the other side, yipe, look out, that was close, got to get farther up, up I said, stop running a sword through your own ribcage, it looks silly and you’re not hitting anything.

But now he was at the top, and skeletal hands hovered to pluck him off as soon as he was clear of the cage of bone. But he had no intention of actually emerging yet. Steelthorn was in his one hand now. Okay, Khoros, let’s see if that blessing you put on was good enough!

He swung the slender blade, directly between the vertebrae, as he leapt up the last few inches. There was a flash of white light as Steelthorn struck, and the spinal column was not merely severed, but cleaved, as though Steelthorn had been a bastard blade wielded by a full-grown human warrior. The sand-bone demon collapsed in a heap, the animating spirit gone; Poplock bounced from the pile, heading for cover.

His victory enraged the other two demons, who howled, sending a blisteringly hot, achingly dry storm of sand after him. Instantly he felt slower, more sluggish, and in horror he saw the plants nearby collapsing, withering, going through hours of dehydration in seconds. My will’s holding off some . . . but I’m a Toad, I can’t handle this for long!

And then there was a chiming double clang, and the heads of both demons were spinning through the air. Xavier Ross stood behind the collapsing bodies, both blades extended fully.

“Good timing!” Poplock croaked.

Xavier flashed him a smile and paused for just long enough to allow Poplock to hop on his shoulder. “Let’s go help Tobimar!”

In the short time they’d been gone, Tobimar had managed to break free. But as the focus of this trap, most of the forces had concentrated on him, and Poplock had a sort of deja-vu moment, seeing the young Prince of Skysand surrounded by monsters, including mazakh, in what seemed an untenable position.

This time, however, he had two allies. Xavier made a tremendous jump as he approached, and Poplock jumped from his shoulder at the peak, bounding into the branches above for a better, and safer, vantage point. They had some allies in the trees before, but I think those were the mazakh, and most or all of them are down there now.

Xavier Uriel Ross landed precisely, back-to-back with Tobimar Silverun, and for a moment the two black-haired, dark-skinned young men stood in identical poses, dual swords held parallel before them.

Something about that caused the demons, especially the leader, to draw back. To Poplock, it looked as though she was staring in shock at Xavier, at his swords and then at his face, perhaps his eyes.

But the mazakh were not so intimidated, and they lunged forward, clubs and blades raised.

Tobimar cut high and low; Xavier, low and high. Two bodies fell in unison, and then the boys leapt apart as though signaled by the same mind, into the mob pressing in on them.

Poplock sent a well-placed bolt or two into the mazakh, but the fact that the demon called Lady Misuuma was edging away seemed much more significant. He scuttled through the trees and bounced towards a location above her.

“. . . retreat to the extraction circle,” she was saying. “Those blades and eyes . . . it is worse than she believes. If this new ally is truly what we think—c’arich! We must retreat. Let the snakes buy us time.” Even as she spoke, two more mazakh fell, and Poplock agreed with Misuuma’s evaluation; unless the two boys messed up bad in the next few minutes, they’d be both standing and none of the snake-demon things would be.

From higher up, Poplock could look ahead and could see the destination—a glowing mystic circle, made of twisted, woven dead plants in runic shapes he could read just enough of to know how bad news that was. Gotta move!

He leapt from branch to branch, trying to keep ahead, get farther ahead, and he only had seconds at best. Only gonna get one chance at this! Have to distract them!

He focused, extended his throat pouch for maximum resonance. “You’re running from the wrong threat,” he said, his voice far more hollow, echoing slightly around the mountain clearing they were entering. “Your doom is already ahead of you.”

As he spoke, he stopped on a forking branch at the edge of the clearing, reaching back into his pack. Hesitate, please, just a moment . . .

Lady Misuuma halted, looking up, searching, finding. “You threaten us?” Her laughter slithered through the air like a hiss of sand. “You should run in fear for your own life!”

“I’m not the one who needs to run,” he said, pulling what he’d searched for out of his pack. Even as two of the sand-bone demons bounded through the air, he hooked the nynyal strap across the forked branch and pulled back with both legs on the slingshot, holding the marble-sized sphere in the pocket. Aim, up, up . . . there!

“You should fear me,” he said, and let go.

The tiny glowing sphere bulleted away, streaking through the air and detonating on impact—right in the middle of the mystic circle. Fire essence blasted the runic creations to shattered ash, consumed the structure, and with a blazing blue-black flare an implosion shook the mountainside; a crater yawned where the circle had been moments before.

“No!” Misuuma shrieked.

Well, that was satisfying. Glad I salvaged a few of those things from the cave. The sand-bone demons had paused only momentarily as the escape circle had collapsed, but that gave Poplock enough time to jump to the next tree. Can’t keep ahead of them forever, but at least I kept them from just running off to tell whatever it was to whoever it was. Which is probably a victory.

“I will destroy you, Toad,” Lady Misuuma hissed. She tore a glittering crystal from a harness about her body and raised it. “Come forth, Phy—”

Brilliant green blades suddenly grew from between Misuuma’s shoulders, one striking and shattering the crystal, which exploded in crackling flame and buzzing smoke that circled the clearing once and then flew off into the sky. At the same time, the sand-bone demons collapsed, clattering apart like poorly made toys. Misuuma herself coughed, looked horrified, and then literally began to disintegrate, turning into a dark, noisome cloud that slowly dispersed in the sun.

“Ancient magical blades, I choose you!” Xavier said enigmatically.


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