46. Witchdoctor whisperer

Reverberations shook the underground passage, throwing Earon off-balance as he caught himself from falling with a quickly placed step.

They were getting stronger now.

He was jogging now, worry twisting his stomach. Hopefully, they can hold out up there.

Untying a vial from his belt, Earon removed his last rejuvenation potion and drank it whilst running. He wasn’t sure what to expect when he got back to the surface, but he was fairly certain he would need to be as close to one hundred percent as possible.

Turning a corner, Earon spotted light, and debris continued to crumble around him as shockwaves cascaded through the ground.

Down the corridor and out the rubbled exit, he found himself in the temple district, and a large brick flew past the entrance he had just exited, skipping across the cobbled street.

His eyes widened as he looked up, past the rumble of the once-standing street around him.

Slapping its massive tail against the Temple of Arks, the red serpent crumbled an outer tower of the temple and twisted its scaled form around the main building.

The serpent shook its giant head, and a figure came flying through the air, slamming into the middle of the street and rolling in a bloody mess. Coming to a stop and folding over, the bloodied corpse stared up with a dead, blank expression at Earon.

The High Priest.

Earon took a step back, shaking his head. Not good.

A familiar scream cried out from the temple, freezing Earon.

Was that?

He turned back to the temple, eyeing the serpent. There was no way he could defeat that thing. But he couldn’t just leave. Their promise rang through his thoughts.

Earon’s fists clenched and he bit down on his lip. There was no way he was leaving her.

Shaking his head, Earon forced his feet forward, and within seconds he was charging toward the temple.

***

Crawling along the library floor, Lexi passed under tables as a section of wall loosened and fell, crushing the spot she had just been.

She pushed up against the wall, kicking with her heels. There was nowhere left to go.

Her hands clenched the ring tighter, “I never got to show you,” she whispered as a giant reptilian eye appeared through the collapsed roof, flickering as it scanned the library.

Lexi’s hands flew up and cupped her mouth.

The movement caught the serpent’s attention, and the head lurched as the giant eye refocused and reared.

“Oh no,” she mouthed.

Then it shook. The giant head turned as if irritated, and then Lexi noticed it, tiny objects slamming against its scales.

A figure passed overhead, through the broken roof. It was climbing the main tower of the temple.

The serpent turned, looking up to where it believed the irritating attacks had come from.

Was that? Lexi smiled as she crept forward, trying to steal a better spot to watch. She stood and narrowed her eyes. It was.

***

Good, it was following him, Earon thought as he ran up the central, tower-like section of the temple. He caught another glimpse as he passed a collapsed section of the wall, its huge, moist eye flickering as it followed him.

A few more steps and he was at the top.

There it was, the bell, hanging from the ceiling that was held up by four pillars of brick, suspending the rooftop above the city. There were no walls here, and Earon could see across the city. He had to be fifty meters from the ground.

A tremble ran through his body as he stepped to the edge and looked down at the giant serpent extending toward him.

Gulping, Earon eyed the pillar of brick; it was just over the serpent.

“This better be a good idea,” he murmured as he crouched and applied pressure against the pillar, engaging his rune as he pushed against the lightweight bricks.

Without weight, and compressed by the pressure from the bell and rooftop against it, Earon didn’t have to push too hard. The mortar quickly crumbled between the bricks and slid against one another, causing a chain reaction.

Fearing for himself, Nathan wrapped his arms over his head and rolled backward, squeezing his eyes shut as he hoped the trajectory of the roof would pass over him.

He felt the change of light against his closed eyes and opened them as the bell and its tower went crashing over the edge, and hurriedly scuttled to look out from the tower as it slammed into the serpent, causing it to wail and lurch away, and green, fuming blood to flow from a wound opened against its side.

Then it straightened again, flickered its eyes, and sprung toward Earon.

Tumbling backward, Earon kicked off against the ground, turning and fumbling toward the staircase.

A moment later, Earon heard a familiar voice.

“What about me!” Echoed Lexi, shouting out from below.

No, no, no, stay hidden Lexi!

Earon turned, spotting Lexi through a window, standing amongst the rubble as the serpent turned to her.

He grabbed his reagent bag and ran back up the few steps between himself and the rooftop.

The serpent sprung back toward Lexi, open-jawed, and crushed down on her before Earon had a chance to do anything.

“No!” Earon screamed, shoving his hand into the reagent bag and opening the cantrip book at his side. His mind raced but he forced the words out.

Puppet Body; a revenger spell that temporarily turns the body into timber-like material. The wielder no longer feels pain, or bleeds, and is affected by spells as if they were an inanimate object.

Leaping from the tower, Earon aimed his body directly at the serpent's head as it turned up towards him and engaged his rune, slamming it against his chest.

His surroundings blurred by in an instant and before he knew it, he was smashing through the beast's flesh and his skin was burning.

He drew every bit of mana he had remaining, funneling it into his zap rune, and dug his fingers into the bloody flesh around him as he released it.

If not for his puppet body, he would have certainly died along with the serpent, as the zap electrified the blood and muscle around him, sending spasms rippling through its body as it lurched back and forth before flopping against the ground with a thunderous crash that flung bricks into the air.

Earon rolled out from the bloody mess and clawed to distance himself from the acidic, burning blood and collapsed.

Fading in and out of consciousness, Earon blinked as a blurred figure bent over him.

“So reckless,” she said, cupping Earon’s head, and gently pushing his lips apart, pressing a vial against them.

“Y-you’re, aa-alive?”

“I haven’t been doing nothing this entire time, you know,” Lexi said, her caressing touch brushing Earon’s bloodied hair back as she smiled down on him.

“That’s good,” Earon coughed as Lexi brought another vial to his lips.

“Drink it all, you need it.”

“You two made it,” came a hoarse voice from behind them, turning Lexi’s attention away.

Prelate Caesil stood, watching. His right arm was little more than a stump, ending just before his elbow, with a golden gleam enclosing its end.

“What happened?” Lexi said, eyeing the stump.

“There’s no more serpents,” Caesil chuckled. “But this, this I’m surprised at. It is really quite impressive.” He added, turning to the serpent corpse at his side. “You actually did it, killed the thing as an apprentice.”

Earon groaned, forcing himself upright as the potions eased his pain and returned a little strength. “Someone had to.”

“Easy, Earon,” Caesil said. “The wall held. It seems the serpents were their trump card, without them, the attack faltered. Their camps are already draining warriors.” He smiled. “It's done, we won the battle. The siege of Caedstad has been lifted.”

“What about the ones that did this?”

“They are no doubt still alive.” Caesil sighed. “This isn’t over. Far from it. But we bought ourselves some time. We might even be able to go on the offensive now.” He dropped and sat atop an impromptu seat of rubble. “We need to take what we can get.”

"At least we survived it," Earon agreed with a nod.