Her heart leapt as Arach pushed through the gateway. Stumbling back, she grabbed Torin’s arm. The sight of the beast choked her. Fear jammed her words in her throat.
A slimy horned head with glowing eye slits swayed back and forth with hypnotic rhythm. The oversized head flowed into a bulging neck attached to a trailing multi-legged body. Greasy black scales piled in layers across the elephant sized skull, shimmering as though oil oozed from the flesh beneath them. Blood red claws cracked the earth with every step as the beast pulled his endless body through the stones and whipped his spiked tail between the trembling spires. An electric blue tongue forked out between yellowed fangs, licking the air and dripping acidic saliva with every swipe across the protruding lower jaw. The volatile spittle hissed and exploded into short bursts of flames when it connected with the ground.
The beast swung its head toward Emma. Its scaled lips slightly lifted at the corners into a gruesome smile. “Ah. This one looks tender and succulent. I never realized ye thought so highly of me, Torin to offer such a tempting morsel.”
“Shield yourself now, Emma,” Torin hissed while moving between her and Arach.
Clenching her amulet with both hands, Emma tensed, praying the magic wouldn’t fail her. A relieved breath explodedfrom her lungs as a reflective orb sparkled around her body. Thank goodness. It finally worked. She had managed to form the protective shield Torin had been trying to show her for weeks.
Spine tingling laughter rumbled from the belly of the beast as he wagged his head to and fro slinging steaming saliva into hissing ropes across the ground. “So, the little one truly is a guardian, eh? And a poorly trained one at that. Excellent. I have been a bit bored lately. Toying with an inexperienced apprentice should prove quite entertaining.”
“Return to your pit, Arach, and I will allow ye to live another eon.” Torin inched closer to the steaming creature, pointing his sword toward the portal. “There is nothing more for ye to enjoy here.”
Arach’s hideous eye slits curled up at the corners as he reared up on his back sets of legs and puffed out the yellowish-green expanse of his chest. “There is much for me here yet to discover, Torin. Now if ye prefer, I shall begin my meal with you.”
The two widest scales between the beast’s forearms split open and released a fleshy appendage bulging with red and purple veins. The slime-covered extension shot across the space and wrapped around Torin’s waist. Hooked talons unsheathed from oozing pores scattered along the length of the pulsing tentacle, embedding themselves into Torin’s body.
Torin roared. With his head thrown back and the corded muscles of his neck bulging, he clenched his sword between both hands and hacked at the undulating mass of barbs embedded around his waist.
Protective instincts pumped through every cell of Emma’s body, wiping out any trace of fear.Save himpounded with every beat of her heart. A primeval scream exploded from her throat as she dove forward and pointed tensed hands with fingers outspread at Arach’s head. Another roar ripped from her lips as she released two exploding orbs of jagged, ice-whitelightning. Energy surged through her veins. She had never felt so empowered. “Let him go, you bastard!”
Arach answered by snorting out a blaze of blue flames from his flared nostrils while twisting the talon-covered arm tighter around Torin’s torso.
Emma dropped to the ground. The crackling pop of burning hair sizzled in her ears while the acrid scent of singed curls assaulted her nose. Smothering her flaming tresses with a quick slap of her hand, she lobbed another energy blast into Arach’s face, and then another. That son-of-a-bitch had shortened her hair to a burnt mess just above her shoulders. Wrinkling her nose, she snorted with disgust. She smelled like a scorched goose.
“Emma!”
Torin’s strained roar alerted her just in time to avoid another volley of exploding flames. She rolled across the trembling earth until she felt herself thud into the hardness of Torin’s powerful leg. Eye-stinging smoke filled the air, blinding her to the surroundings. Pulling her way up his muscular thigh, she clamped both hands around the stinging tentacle, screaming as the poisonous slime set her flesh on fire. If she could just focus her power into her hands, maybe the undulating rope of flesh would burn in two.
Ignoring the pain searing up her arms, she leaned against Torin’s body and forced her anger into her hands. Arach’s flesh exploded, splattering the air with bloody masses of tentacle, writhing its claws into the soil as soon as the globs plopped back to the ground.
The beast threw back his head and roared with pain as the remainder of the appendage reeled back into its chest. Roiling black smoke shot from the flared nostrils, now foaming with blood-speckled slime.
Torin dove toward Arach’s chest, his glowing sword held above his head. As he brought the blade crashing against the scales of Arach’s neck, the beast closed his jaws around Torin’s waist.
“No!” Emma lunged forward and nearly flipped head over heels when she tried retrieving Torin’s heavy sword that Arach had knocked from his grasp. The blade had embedded deep in the ground and left the haft vibrating in the air.
“Emma, get back!” Torin clamped his hands against Arach’s mouth, straining to pry open the monster’s jaws. His hands glowed, then burst into white hot flames engulfing Arach’s head.
“Torin!” Emma wrenched the sword free of the earth and hauled the blade up against her side. She stumbled forward, struggling with the weight of the blade whose length was half her height. The muscles across her shoulders burned as she wrangled the sword higher against her body. It didn’t matter. She didn’t care if she tore every muscle in her body. She had to free Torin.
Arach edged back toward the portal that had turned into a whirling eddy of sparkling clouds. Emma stared at the undulating gateway. What the hell was going on with that thing? That white hot mess couldn’t be good.
Torin’s face darkened as the strength of the flames spewing from his hands increased and roiled around Arach’s head. As the inferno blazed into a hideous shade of greenish blue, Arach thrashed Torin back and forth through the air while continuing to shove his multiple stubby legs deep into the muck at his feet. Little by little, he inched his massive body backwards through the gateway.
“Emma,”Torin roared inside her head above the beast’s muffled bellow.“Once Arach clears the last stone, ye must seal the portal. Ye know what to do.”
Emma went limp at this revelation and dropped the sword to her feet. Seal the portal? How? And what about Torin? Was he going to spring himself from Arach’s jaws at the last minute?
“Emma.”Torin writhed in Arach’s unrelenting grasp.“Emma, ye MUST do as I say without question.”
“What about you?”She forced the words through her fear. A sudden knowing of what his answer would be sank like a weight to the pit of her stomach and sickened her with dread.
“I promise. I will return. Somehow, I will come back for ye, Emma. Trust me. I will find a way.”Torin’s arms bulged; his face contorted with the pain interrupting the words he projected into her mind.“Ye must do it, Emma. There is no other way.”
Burning tears streamed down her face. There had to be another way. As she watched Arach digging his way backward into the spinning chaos, the realization struck her and forced her to acknowledge the truth she had known all along. She loved Torin. The ache of losing him ripped a wrenching sob from the depths of her heart. How could she do what he asked? She couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing him again.
Shaking her head, she fired a useless energy blast against the monster’s scaly sides. The lightning of the hit ricocheted off the oily black tiles and dissipated into a harmless sizzling cloud floating into the air.
