Part 7 (2/2)
”I won't,” Rollan replied.
Meilin called Jhi into her dormant state. The panda disappeared in a flash. Rollan seized the moment to hurriedly wrap Meilin's hands tightly behind her back.
Shane saw what was happening. His face twisted first in confusion, then in rage. He turned to Meilin. ”Gerathon!” he shouted. ”What are you doing? Command her to attack them!”
But Meilin's eyes didn't change. They stayed dark.
”Gerathon!” Shane shouted, angrier this time. He viciously shoved Abeke aside and hurried toward them.
”This is no time to play around,” Shane snapped at her, drawing his sword. He paused in his steps when he saw Rollan take a firm stance in front of Meilin. Abeke pushed herself back up on her feet and joined him. She turned her fierce eyes onto Shane.
”If you're so worried,” Abeke said through clenched teeth, ”then come attack us yourself!”
Shane narrowed his eyes at her. He hoisted his blade higher. ”So be it,” he shouted. ”If the Great Serpent is too weak to control a girl!”
Suddenly Shane froze in place. His eyes widened. He winced, then clutched his head as if something had stabbed him there. A terrible gasp escaped from his lips. He shrieked once. Rollan watched as the Devourer's eyes changed ... into sickly gold. His pupils dilated until they nearly filled up his irises.
So. It was true, then. Shane had drunk the Bile and now, he had become Gerathon's puppet.
Shane shuddered violently. Then, he lifted his head and looked at Abeke again with his new eyes. He smiled and hoisted his saber again.
”I'll be ordered around by no human,” he spat.
Then he touched the talisman looped around his neck and roared. The Golden Lion! Rollan realized too late.
The noise echoed across the battlefield a deafening blast that knocked them off their feet.
Shane mounted his own stallion again, then called his crocodile into its dormant state. Rollan's eyes darted up, following Shane's path.
Zerif waited several dozen yards away. Wrapped around his hands were the other talismans. ”To Muttering Rock!” the man shouted. Shane kicked his horse, spurring it on. The two galloped in the direction of the red rock formation.
”Quickly!” Rollan shouted, pulling Meilin over toward their horse. Abeke struggled up from where she was and ran for her horse too. All around the plains, Olvan's Greencloaks had mounted a successful attack. Conquerors were breaking into smaller, chaotic cl.u.s.ters, herded into position by determined Greencloaks. Far in the middle of the plain, Rollan thought he saw Olvan in the melee.
Conor came das.h.i.+ng up to them on his horse. He pulled to a halt and Briggan loped up beside him, his gray fur l.u.s.trous in the firelight. Conor looked from Meilin to Rollan. His eyes were very wide, almost wild like his wolf's.
”Is she ?” Conor started to say.
”She's fine,” Rollan huffed, out of breath.
Meilin screamed. Her dark irises flickered to yellow, and she struggled against her bonds.
”She will be fine,” Rollan clarified. ”She's holding off the Bile as well as she can.”
”Let's get her on a horse,” Conor said. ”We have to go after Shane and Zerif now. They're going to free Kovo!”
CONOR URGED HIS STALLION FORWARD, IN THE DIRECTION that Shane and Zerif had gone toward Muttering Rock. The vision and dreams he'd been experiencing for days now came rus.h.i.+ng back to him: the bloodred stone, Shane astride the eagle, Kovo roaring outside his prison. Tellun's voice, ringing in his ears.
It is the end of an era. We need you here.
They would find Tellun tonight. Conor was sure of it.
Conor spurred his horse into a sprint. The others followed closely behind him. As the battle between the Conquerors and the Greencloaks raged on, Conor kept his focus on the enormous rock formation that loomed nearer and nearer. Ahead, Shane's and Zerif's horses kicked up a cloud of dust. They would reach the bottom of the rock before long. Conor clenched his jaw and urged his horse to go faster.
They reached the wall right as Shane and Zerif began to scale it. They went at a frightening pace, aided by the stolen talismans Shane crawled across the rock as if he were a squirrel, his grip steady and sure, and Zerif was yanked up after him, sliding from foothold to foothold in a rush, tied to Shane with a length of rope. Conor swung off his horse at the foot of the rock and hurried over to the others as they dismounted. He and Abeke helped Rollan get Meilin off the horse.
All four stared up at the looming wall of rock. It seemed unscalable.
”The Granite Ram,” Conor said, pointing to the talisman looped around Abeke's neck.
Abeke handed it over. ”Go,” she said. ”We'll follow as far as we can.” She tilted her head at Rollan. ”Essix can send it back when you're up.”
As Conor tugged the talisman over his head, Rollan turned and looked at Meilin. ”Can you climb?”
”No,” Meilin said immediately.
”Yes, you can,” Rollan pressed.
Meilin's voice sounded frantic. ”Absolutely not. I'll only be a danger to you up there. I ”
Before Conor even realized that Rollan had his dagger in hand, he'd slashed it down, cutting the rope that bound Meilin's hands in one swift movement. The coils fell to the ground in a heap, leaving her unrestrained.
Meilin looked down at her hands in horror and wonder, opening and closing her fingers.
”Rollan ...” Conor said. ”Are you sure about this? Gerathon could turn her against us at any moment.”
”I said I'm not leaving her,” Rollan muttered, sheathing the dagger. Meilin's eyes darted from her hands up to him. He shook his head at her. ”And I'm not.”
”You should,” Meilin said again, although this time she said it weakly.
”No.” Rollan's eyes were steady, unafraid. ”I trust you.”
”We all do,” Abeke said. She stepped forward and squeezed Meilin's pale hands with her own. Tears started to well up in Meilin's eyes.
Conor thought back to when he had betrayed the others, and how they'd forgiven him. How, no matter what, they had to set their fears aside sometimes and put their faith in each other. He reached out and touched Meilin's shoulder. He smiled at her. ”Come on, Meilin. Let's go.”
Meilin shut her eyes and her tears overflowed, spilling down her cheeks. ”Okay,” she whispered. ”Thank you.” She looked at each of them in turn. ”For everything. I'll fight Gerathon with everything I have. I promise.”
Conor glanced up the rock. ”I have to go.”
”Be swift,” Abeke said. ”We'll be right behind you.”
Conor clutched the talisman tightly. Suddenly it felt as if he could see every single foothold on the entire sheer rock side. He gave a mighty leap. The Granite Ram shot him up into the air he landed instinctively in a spot where he could find footholds. ”Hold on!” he called down to the others. Then he took another wild leap to another hold. Wind rushed past him. When Conor chanced a look down, a p.r.i.c.kly sensation rushed up his spine. He had covered over fifty feet in the span of a few seconds. The others followed his path at a slower rate while he jumped ahead. He glanced up to where Shane and Zerif dashed. Then he leaped again.
A piercing cry rang out overhead. For an instant, Conor flinched and thought he would see Halawir flying overhead, just like in his nightmares. But the cry came from Essix. The gyrfalcon flew ahead of them, calling out a shrill warning. Conor looked up to see Shane wielding the Crystal Polar Bear. His eyes widened.
”Watch out!” Conor yelled down to the others. As he said it, a violent explosion shook the cliff side followed by the sound of crumbling boulders. Shane had knocked an avalanche of debris down toward them. Essix shrieked and darted away from the cliff. Conor made a giant leap out of the rocks' way. An enormous boulder hurtled past him, hit the edge of the sheer wall, and crumbled into smaller rocks. They barely missed Abeke, who managed to fling herself to one side.
More rocks came tumbling down. Conor leaped from side to side as Shane struck out repeatedly with the Crystal Polar Bear's invisible arms, raining more debris onto them. ”Spread out!” Conor shouted down to the others. He saw Abeke taking the lead and guiding them farther out to the right. More boulders hurtled down the side, smas.h.i.+ng entire chunks out of the wall and adding to the avalanche.