The huge beaked creature shrieked in pain and dove downward. Carter pursued him, sending bursts of flame after him.
Fen watched the fight, her heart pounding. As much as she was afraid for Carter, she was filled with joy watching him in his new form. He moved with astonishing grace, agility, and power, as at home in this new body as in his own. His every movement seem to rejoice in it.
"Is that Carter?" Pete asked.
"Yes," said Ransom, before Fen could reply.
The two Defenders who could fly were already transforming. Natalie's slim frame shifted to that of a great white hound with white wings and eyes like pieces of sky. Roland spread out his arms as if in invocation. Fire blossomed from his palms, sheathed his forearms like gauntlets, and clothed his body like living armor. The next moment, he was a bird made of pure flame. The Gabriel hound and the phoenix launched off the side of the mountain and joined the fray.
But Balin was so big that he rapidly outdistanced them all. He left them behind, then drove back upward, toward the side of the mountain where Fen stood. Merlin and Pete instantly moved to protect her, Pete becoming a great shaggy cave bear and Merlin becoming a twelve-foot velociraptor. Norris gave them a doubtful glance, then became a Dunkleosteus.
Fen hurriedly stepped back to avoid getting squashed. Balin screeched and dove to the side, knocking over a tree with a swipe of his vast wing. Everyone jumped aside.
Balin transformed back into a man, landing lightly on the mountainside.
“Piscine fool,” he sneered at Norris. “You’ll drown on dry land.”
Norris shifted back human form. “No, I won’t.”
Balin stared at him. “How—”
Before he could finish his sentence, Merlin and Pete charged him. The wizard-scientist made a quick gesture, then looked alarmed when nothing happened. He hurriedly shifted and leaped back into the air. The aerial battle between Balin and the three Defenders resumed.
From the corner of her eye, Fen caught a movement above. A shadow with a familiar shape was amongst the clouds.
"EUNICE!" Fen screamed at the top of her lungs. "DEFENDERS, RUN!"
Pete swung around and rushed back into the forest, his bare paws thudding as they hit the ground. Merlin leapt after him, flying through the air like an acrobat. Norris fled after them. Roland and Natalie also broke off the fight, flying away as fast as they could. They vanished into the cloud cover.
Fen stood alone on the mountainside, as Carter was alone in the air.
It had to be that way. If they’d stayed, Eunice would seize control of them and force them to attack her and Carter. But now the odds had turned against them.
Eunice dove down from the clouds with an angry screech, flying to join Balin.
Carter was once again alone in the air, facing off against two foes. His tail lashed, and the claws of his great paws flexed. They were very big, like the talons of a bird of prey. His tail too seemed unusually long. But none of him looked disproportionate or malformed. He was perfect. He was just different.
He and Eunice flew straight at Carter, coming from opposite directions. He couldn’t breathe fire at both of them at once.
"Carter!" Fen yelled. "You're beautiful! Get them! You can do it!"
Carter’s jaws opened, and he gave a cry like a crystal bugle.
But he made no move to evade the attack. He waited, his wings flapping hard, hovering. Fen watched in an agony of anticipation. Balin and Eunice were almost upon him.
And then he vanished.
Balin and Eunice collided in mid-air.
There was a tremendous crash. The gargoyle shattered into a million little pieces of black rock, and fell from the sky like hail. Balin shrieked, thrashing as if he'd forgotten how to fly, turning this way and that in surprise and confusion.
Fen spotted something above him. It was very hard to see because it was the exact color of the sky, all the way down to the clouds, but it had the shape of a great winged cat. The sky-colored beast that Carter had become dropped down, fire exploding from his jaws at point blank range.
Balin was engulfed in a gigantic fireball. He didn’t even have time to scream. A cloud of smoke filled the place where he had been. A moment later, ash began to gently drift down from the sky.
Chapter 31
Carter flew awayfrom the cloud of smoke and ash that was all that was left of Balin.
