Justin arched an eyebrow. “Can you even use a sword?”
“Nope,” she replied. “But that’s kind of the point of a sword that never misses, and it’s not like I can use magic at the moment.”
Now that she’d mentioned it, Julius realized he couldn’t feel any magic in the air at all. The dark, heavy aura of the Pit had vanished completely, leaving only a void that was somehow worse. No wonder his family complained so much about the days before the magic returned. The unnatural emptiness feltterrible. It also brought to mind a pertinent question.
“How many magic eaters do you think are here?” he asked as Justin lifted his foot to kick the press bar that opened the gym door.
“Not enough to take me,” his brother said confidently, smashing the exit open. “Just stay close and there won’t be any troub—”
He stopped short, causing Marci to bump into him. This, in turn, bumped Julius between them, jostling his wound hard enough to make him see spots. He was still blinking them away when Justin said, “Okay, this is a bit more than I anticipated.”
‘A bit’ didn’t begin to describe it. Back in the gym, Julius had assumed the magic eaters who’d come in through the ceiling had been the boldest, or at least the hungriest. Now, he was starting to wonder if they hadn’t just been pushed in by the rest. The area outside the gym was a solid carpet of magic eaters. The ground was literally black with their crawling bodies, and the beat of their wings in the air above was so constant, it actually raised a wind. Everywhere Julius looked, the darkness was moving, and he didn’t need his brother’s unusually serious scowl to know that they were in very real trouble.
Marci swallowed. “Should we—”
“No.” Justin swung Katya’s unconscious weight into a fireman’s carry across his shoulders to free his right arm to draw his own sword. “We’re going to do this quick, so keep that kitchen knife up. Julius, you hold tight to that detonator until we can tie it down. And try to stop bleeding so much. You’re only drawing more.”
Julius sighed. “I can’t just stop—”
“I’ll carry the girl and go offense,” Justin went on, rolling over him. “Ready?”
Julius started to say no, but Justin was already out the door. Marci dragged Julius after him a second later, sticking to Justin like glue as he raised his sword to cut a path.
Cut turned out to be the wrong word. Justin’s Fang of the Heartstriker never actually made contact. Apparently, he’d been right about the magic eater’s unwillingness to attack. Despite their exponentially superior numbers, they were clearly not eager to take on an uninjured dragon like Justin. They scrambled to avoid his blade whenever he swung, filling the dark with their horrible screeching as they flew out of reach, but not away. They would always land again a few moments later to rejoin the circling mass, their spider eyes glinting in the dark.
Despite Justin’s orders, it was slow going. Even with Marci’s support, Julius could barely walk. By the time they’d made it to the end of the sidewalk, he was ready to lie down and never get up. The only reason he didn’t was the magic eaters. He could almost feel their eagerness as they watched him limp past, and the memory of those sharp, cold claws digging into his chest was awful enough to overcome his exhaustion. Fortunately, they didn’t have much farther to go. They were already crossing the street to the parking lot where Bob was waiting for them, and none of these overgrown scavengers would dare mess with a dragon like Brohomir.
Holding that promise in his mind like a beacon, Julius made himself keep moving. One step at a time, he forced his feet up and down, ignoring the pain in his chest, ignoring the monsters snapping their teeth right behind him, ignoring how they seemed to be walking forever. He put all of it out of his head and pushed forward, keeping his eyes firmly on the dirty, broken ground in front of him, which was how he almost ran into his brother when Justin suddenly stopped.
“What?” he panted, slumping into Marci.
Justin shook his head. “He’s not here.”
Julius blinked, uncomprehending. “Who’s not here?”
“Bob!” Justin snarled, swinging his sword at the circle of magic eaters around them. “We’ve walked over the whole damn lot now, and the car isn’t here.” He bared his teeth. “Bastard left us.”
“I’m sure he wouldn’t do that,” Marci began, but she went quiet again when Julius and Justin shot her matching looks of disbelief.
“Youhadto stop and save the human, didn’t you?” Justin muttered, adjusting Katya on his shoulder. “Fine. Doesn’t matter. We can get out on our own, it’ll just be a walk.”
Julius couldn’t stop his grimace at the idea of more walking. “Isn’t there another—oof!”
His surprised gasp turned into a pained one as Justin was thrust into him, nearly sending them both to the ground. His brother recovered instantly, whirling around with his sword up, but the magic eater who’d shoved him had already scurried away. But one success leads to others, and a few seconds later, another magic eater worked up the courage to take a snap at Katya, actually cutting off some of her hair before Justin drove it back.
“We have to keep moving,” he growled. “The longer we stop, the bolder they’ll get. Now go.”
“Go where?” Marci said, bracing against Julius’s weight. “We can’t walk ten blocks like this.”
“We have to,” Justin said. “Just—”
His words transformed into a roar as a long, barbed claw shot out of the dark to hook his leg and yank it out from under him. Justin went down with a crash, taking Marci and Julius with him. For a second, he lay prone on the cracked asphalt, and then he came up swinging, lopping off the barbed claw—and the leg it was attached to—in one smooth strike. But the damage was already done.
The monster had barely scratched him, but the small stain of blood on Justin’s jeans sent the magic eaters into a frenzy. It didn’t help that the fall had reopened Julius’s wound, either. The double dose of fresh scent combined with the fact that all the dragons were now injured drove the creatures insane. Within seconds, their screeching had gotten so loud it was physically painful, and then, as though a signal had been given, the whole mass attacked.
Justin attacked back, dumping Katya on Julius as he swung his sword in a huge arc in front of them. The Fang of the Heartstriker sang through the air, cutting the magic eaters like paper wherever it touched them, and it wasn’t alone. In the confusion, Marci had thrown up Tyrfing with a squeak, closing her eyes as she waved the enchanted sword wildly.
The blade took things from there. Lighting up like a flare in the dark, Tyrfing turned expertly in Marci’s clumsy grip, slicing straight through a magic eater above her to cut it in two. It took out the one on her left next, sending that half of the attacking mob skittering back in terror, and Julius felt a rush of relief.Finally,something was going right.
