Awoken (26 page)

“Greendown is injured,” Blacksong reported. “His war club was struck by one of the thunder sticks.”

“Is he going to make it?”

“Greendown will survive, but he cannot stonesing as he is,” Warmsoil said. “That leaves only two elders to aid you, Awoken. If we are to bring down the Great Bridge, we must do so now.”

Michael shook his head. “Equinox isn’t here yet. We have to wait.”

Warmsoil ran his fingers nervously over his staff. “Awoken, half of our clans are no more. We will all die together if you command it, but we cannot stand against the Fallen much longer.”

Michael watched the much-thinned dollman force struggle to hold the line, and his shoulders sagged. Equinox or no Equinox, they were out of time.

“Okay, let’s do it.” Tossing his spear aside, Michael knelt and placed his palms flat on the ground. “We’ll take out the middle first. After that, the weight of the bridge should bring the rest of it down. Jericho, watch our backs while we work.”

“I will guard you, Awoken.”

Grounding their staffs, Warmsoil and Blacksong took the shafts tightly in their hands and their faces tightened with concentration. “We are ready, Michael,” Warmsoil said. “Begin, and we will add our strength to yours.”

“Alright,” Michael said, his eyes going silver, “time to show these VEN who they’re messing with.”

The stonesong surged from him, flowing across the ground in fiery waves. Dollmen stumbled as the rippling wave passed under them, and a rolling line of VEN tumbled from their feet as the stonesong travelled up the Great Bridge.

Michael poured the stonesong into the rock, channeling as much of the power as the elderstone could handle. A subtle echo pushed behind the stonesong, and he knew the elders were adding their ability to his own. The Great Bridge shifted, and thin cracks began to appear in the worked stone. A rain of dust and gravel began to fall from the bridge into the chasm.

There was a subtle shift in the battle. While the black hounds attacked as ferociously as ever, the belua and mercenaries began to back away from the dollmen’s line, casting nervous glances at the quivering stone beneath them. Michael focused the stonesong on the tiny fractures, opening them wider, willing the bridge to shift and break.

The bridge gave a shuddering spasm. Near the center of the span, a cottage-sized piece of rock broke away, carrying a score of VEN soldiers into the deep. The Great Bridge rocked like a dinghy in a storm, and VEN screamed in horror as further sections of the span broke away.

With the floor falling away beneath their feet, VEN abandoned the attack and ran for their lives. Hounds turned on one another or on the belua, ripping mindlessly as the world heaved and crashed around them. As they raced for the opposite side of the chasm, belua smashed aside slower mercenaries or simply threw them from the bridge.

Michael released the stonesong and looked away from the bridge. He felt sick, but not from the stonesong.

The Great Bridge died with a croaking roar and hundreds of VEN—hounds, belua, and men, fell screaming into darkness. The sound of crashing rock and the terrified cries of the falling went on for a long time, and then there was only silence.

“Victory!”

Blacksong’s triumphant shout broke the hush. The surviving dollmen echoed his savage cry, shaking spears above their heads or casting them into the chasm in pursuit of their enemies.

A small hand reached up to touch Michael’s arm. “I thought we would die here,” Warmsoil said. “You have done the impossible, Awoken. You have saved the People of the Mountain.”

Michael felt sick. “I’m happy your people are safe, Warmsoil,” he said. “But I just killed…I don’t know how many people, real people, with families. And for what? Equinox is still out there. This isn’t going to stop him.”

Warmsoil sighed. “Michael, I want you to—”

Whatever the elder was saying was forever lost as an arm-length spike of stone erupted from his chest. The elder slumped forward, and Michael caught him in his arms reflexively. “Warmsoil!” he cried, but the kind old dollman was dead.

“You are correct, Michael. Nothing will stop me from claiming what is mine.” A section of the wall melted away near the gate, and Equinox emerged from the hidden pocket behind it.

“The Betrayer!” Blacksong roared. He and the dollmen charged the white-coated scientist.

“How tiresome,” Equinox said blandly. His eyes blazed silver. A forest of rocky spikes erupted from the floor around the dollmen, covering them like birds in a cage. Trapped, the dollmen cast their spears, but the crystal shafts shattered against Equinox’s coat.

Equinox brushed the smallest spear shards off of his coat. “Although I appreciate your willingness to test the hybrids,” he said to the dollmen, “your services are no longer required. Do not be too downhearted, though; you never stood any real chance against me. I am one of the Awoken, after all. And I don’t come alone.”

“That’s right, fellas.” Smiley came out from behind Equinox. The grinning VEN held a chain attached to the neck of another wiry belua with a tattered green coat and shaggy, spotted fur.

“Diggs,” Michael whispered. The chained belua looked up at him, but if he wanted to answer, the muzzle over his mouth prevented it. Michael’s eyes burned silver. “Let him go, you animals.”

A slight figure stepped into view. “It wouldn’t do any good, Mike. Diggs has been off his meds for too long. His mind is gone.”

Michael’s jaw dropped. “Lina?”

Lina’s hair was black again, and only a few silver highlights remained of her metal tresses. Her eyes had returned to normal as well, and her skin no longer looked like bone.

“Yes. It’s me, Mike,” Lina said. “The real me.”

“I see you’ve noticed the changes in your friend,” Equinox said. “A mutually beneficial agreement, I assure you. I’ve restored Melina, and in exchange…” He held out his hands, revealing two glittering waystones. “I have both existing waystones, and will soon possess every last bit of this world’s earthbone. It was a valiant effort, Michael, but you have lost. Observe.”

The waystones flared, and the wall around the gate simply disintegrated. Without the support of the walls around it, the huge barrier tottered and fell with a booming crash, revealing the expanse of the crystal forest and, in the distance, the dollmen’s city.

As the cavern wall collapsed, Michael’s legs went weak. They had lost. The waystones had augmented Equinox’s power to an unimaginable level. If he tried to fight him now, Equinox would crush him like an ant. “Lina, what have you done?”

Lina lowered her eyes. “What I had to.”

Smiley wiggled the end of Diggs’s leash. “She didn’t want to end up like old furry here, I guess. Tough luck, amigo.”

“Do not blame your friend,” Equinox said. “Her mutation was more obvious than yours, and she wanted to return to her old life. It is true, I would have much preferred to have observed her ongoing mutation to its natural conclusion, but that is not what Melina wanted. I understand her reluctance. Just look at what has occurred to poor Dr. Curtis in the absence of his medication. Fearing a similar fate, she came to me for help. And I did help her, Michael, just as I promised I would.”

Michael eyes blazed with fury. “Like you care what happens to her. You’re the reason the forest upstairs is full of mutated plants and animals. If you keep taking the earthbone up there, we’re all going to end up like Diggs anyway!”

“You fear what you do not understand,” said Equinox, “Look at this place, this paradise beneath the earth. Is it not beautiful? All you behold is the result of earthbone mutation. It can be the same for the world above. I simply want to help in the evolution.”

“That’s a load of bull, and you know it,” Michael said. He was so tired, physically and mentally exhausted. He was in no mood for more of Equinox’s lies. “If you wanted to help, you could have started by giving Diggs his medication. Why leave him like that?”

“Dr. Curtis has set himself against my goals, and so restoring his humanity at this juncture is not in my best interest,” Equinox said. “I will help him in time, just as I did Melina. Try to understand, Michael—the goal of my human experiments wasn’t to create abominations, but to improve the existing genetic makeup by introducing fresh, beneficial, DNA. Yes, mistakes have been made. But I have learned much from the belua and the other hybrids. Once I possess the earthbone, I can direct the course of the world’s mutation away from negative side effects like Dr. Curtis’s unfortunate dependence on medications. I will avoid my earlier mistakes.”

“The mad scientist will save the world, huh?” Michael snorted a laugh. “I’ve seen that comic-book ploy, and I’m not buying it. You’re no hero, doc. Diggs may be the leopard-man, but
you’re
the real monster.”

Equinox’s lips dipped into a frown. “So says the boy who sent scores of my men plummeting to their deaths. It was not I who shattered the bridge.”

Michael scowled. “Yes, I killed your men. Maybe that makes me a murderer.” His mouth twisted in disgust at the word. “I did it to save my friends, not just because I could. I don’t play God like you, or hurt people for fun like that grinning idiot next to you!”

Smiley growled, his knuckles whitening on Diggs’s chain.

“Very well, Michael,” Equinox said, his expression regretful but resigned. “Though I truly wish it hadn’t come to this.” A pillar of rock burst before Michael and collided with his stomach, knocking the wind from his lungs. He fell back, and a second pillar slammed into his shoulder. Something in his shoulder gave with a resounding
snap
, and he cried out in pain.

“The stonesong has many interesting qualities,” Equinox said conversationally. “The peculiar hardening of the skin, for example.” A stone claw, molded from the rock floor by Equinox’s power, swiped Michael’s leg, tearing a long gash in his jeans and leaving a dark red line on his thigh. “The stronger the stonesong being channeled, the harder the user’s skin becomes.”

Michael reached out with the stonesong, intending to liquefy the rock beneath Equinox’s feet, and felt the attempt roughly deflected by the scientist’s power. He gathered his strength for another try, but a spiny mace of rock clipped his forehead, tearing bright blood from his scalp and shattering his concentration.

“We don’t have to be enemies, my boy,” Equinox continued. “Your abilities would make you a valuable asset. I’m offering you your life back, Michael—and more, a place in history. What do you think?”

The stony attacks abruptly ended. Cradling his wounded shoulder, Michael blinked blood from his eyes. “I think…” He coughed wetly, spattering the floor with red. “I think I’d rather die than play lapdog to a sadistic lunatic like you.”

Equinox’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “I’ve had about enough of your insolence, Michael. Do you truly want to die?”

Did he want to die? Michael closed his eyes. He hurt all over. Gripping the elderstone in his fist, he breathed deeply of the cool cavern air. He felt a strange sense of destiny, as if the universe, itself, waited for his answer, balanced on the head of a pin. “I don’t want to die.”

“Then stop this foolishness and join me,” Equinox snapped. “I won’t make the offer again.”

“I know,” Michael said. He looked up at the silver-tainted rock of the cavern ceiling. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it? The music. I mean, all this earthbone feeding the stonesong, making us stronger. Without this elderstone, it would destroy me. How wonderful it must be to have the waystones, to be able to release so much of the stonesong.”

Equinox smiled, showing real emotion for the first time since they’d met. “It is indescribable, Michael. Godlike. In time, we will discover more waystones, and you will know the power as I do. Come now, and you can be with your friends again.”

“I’ll bet,” Michael said. Spying a pale flash of movement behind Smiley, he tightened his hold on the elderstone. “You know, before the dollmen gave me this pendant, I’d been using the stonesong for weeks without a waystone. It wasn’t easy, and sometimes it hurt. Tell me, doc, how will you handle so much power without a waystone?”

“Death to the Fallen!”

Equinox whirled at the cry, and Jericho’s spear shattered against his face. “Arghh!”

“Jericho!” Michael shouted. “Get the waystones!”

Rushing from the shadows, Jericho charged the white-coated scientist as Equinox tried to scrub the broken crystal from his eyes.

Smiley roared and leapt to intercept the dollman. His suit stretched and split as he assumed his beastly alter ego. His hairy claw smacked Jericho from the air.

The dollman hit the floor headfirst, and he lay still, a deep gash in his pasty skull.

Equinox spat the last bits of crystal from his lips and glared daggers at Michael. “You foolish boy. Were you not listening? The stonesong has made my skin as hard as diamond.” He lifted the blazing waystones in his hands. “Armor-piercing bullets couldn’t hurt me now, let alone a pathetic spear.”

A bright flash exploded at Equinox’s back, and a thunderclap shattered the air. He staggered forward. The waystones flew from his hands, skittering toward the chasm.

“How about electricity, you pompous jerk?” Lina asked, lowering her shock rifle.

Silver fire burst from Equinox’s mouth, and bright bands of light leapt from his body to the ground. Clutching his skull in his hands, he stumbled after the loose waystones. “Kill them, Nabal!” he shrieked. “Kill them all!”

Ripping away the shreds of his shirt, Smiley stalked towards Lina. “Time to die, missy.”

“Give it your best shot, Ugly,” Lina mocked. Having no spare rods with which to reload the rifle, she took it by the barrel and held it like a baseball bat. “Come and get it.”

Smiley charged, an unstoppable engine of death descending on a defiant teenage girl. Moving with surprising speed, Lina dodged the first swipe of Smiley’s claws, swinging her makeshift club savagely into his back as she danced from his path. The heavy rifle butt bounced from the belua’s shoulder with no visible effect. Smiley whirled, this time too fast for her to dodge, and went for her throat.

Michael reached for the stonesong, but then a growling white fury smashed into the belua from behind.