The wyrm let out another roar, and there was a loud snap.
No doubt the paddle breaking.
Super.
Seymour didn’t dare look back, running as hard as he could. He didn’t even wait for Day, knowing if he made it through the doorway that she would be pulled through alongside him by the anchor of the Inro. He had to keep going. He had to go. He had to get back?—
Thwump.
The side of the wyrm’s tail crashed into Seymour, and he flew.
There was enough time to be scared.
Seconds ticked by, each one an eternity, and Seymour wildly thought he was going to die. He was going to break something, maybe his neck, and he’d never see Day or Sariel again.
Sweet, beautiful Sariel, who had absolutely told him what a stupid idea this was.
Hindsight and all that.
Seymour hit the ground with incredible force and rolled, slamming into a twisted rack. The world spun, pain burst throughout his chest and back, and he wheezed weakly. Breathing hurt. Trying to focus his eyes hurt.
Fuck.
He didn’t see Day, but he could hear her roaring and snarling as she attacked the wyrm.
The wyrm’s focus was only Seymour, and it whipped toward him and raised its head for another strike.
Seymour couldn’t push himself up. He couldn’t get away. He stared up at the wyrm, managing to defiantly spit out a mouthful of blood. “Fuck…you.”
The wyrm roared and lunged.
Seymour closed his eyes to wait for the inevitable.
But it never came.
The wyrm roared—a sound of pain.
And anger.
And…
Seymour opened his eyes, his chest lurching.
It wasSariel!
Sariel was in his first angel form and had blocked the attack with a flap of his wing. He took off into the air as the wyrm growled and snapped at him. “Day!” he shouted. “Get Seymour out of here! Now!”
“No! No, Day, you will not get Seymour out of here!” Seymour watched helplessly as Sariel flew around the snake monster, dipping in and barely avoiding another strike. “What the fuck are you doin’ here?”
“Saving you!”
“That was fuckin’rhetoricaland you know it!”
Sariel didn’t reply, too busy trying to keep the wyrm’s attention by striking at its eyes. Such a close attack put him in reach of the wyrm’s teeth, and it snapped down on his leg. He screamed and continued pounding the wyrm’s face until thick black blood oozed from its jaw, but it didn’t release him.
Seymour’s heart ached, and he curled his hands into fists. “Day! Hey! Where are you? We’ve gotta help him!”
Day was out of breath as she ran up to him, blood smeared across her mouth and neck. “I’m trying!”
