Clash of the Otherworlds: Book 3, Portal Guardians (31 page)

I threw myself sideways to keep my blade from connecting, falling with a complete lack of grace and banging my own head with Blackie as I landed and made contact with the hard ground.
 
The thunking it made was so hollow-sounding I was tempted to laugh at the idea that my head was as empty as a coconut.
 
But the stinging pain and almost immediate dull throbbing that resulted from my self-ass-kicking, quickly erased the humor from my mind, leaving only anger and fear in its place.

"Uhhhnnn ... ," moaned Spike.

"Spike! Get through the veil!
 
Follow Garrett!"
 
I kicked him in the hand and arm a few times to get him moving.
 
They were love-kicks, even though technically were probably going to leave bruises.

"Uhhnnnn ... ," came his pitiful answer.
 
Something had clunked him, but good.
 
I could see the top part of his body, and his head had a little blood coming from the side of it, above his ear.

"I'm here, Jayne!
 
I'm here!" yelled Tim's tiny voice from somewhere behind Spike.

"Tell Garrett to get Spike out of here.
 
Drag him if you have to!"

"What about you?" he asked, now buzzing near my face.
 
He was in a panic, doing zig zags all over the place.
 
He had his tiny dagger out and was holding it in front of him.
 
If I hadn't seen him blind a demon with one before, I would have laughed at the thing being no bigger than the tiniest fingernail clipping; but I knew he'd risk himself to do that move all over again, and I didn't want that to happen - not when we were so close to getting out of this mess.
 
I could sense the opening in the veil was near.
 
We just had to get the hell away from these nasty beasts to get through it.

The trolls took one look at Tim and got all antsy again, their roars and lip smacking telling me that pixie was their favorite flavor of chips and dip.
 
The measly bit of sword-waving I was doing from the ground was losing its effect.
 
They advanced again, and I found myself kicking the heck out of Spike to get him to release my foot.
 
Luckily, he had very little strength left in his hand, and let go after only a few more jabs from my moccasin.

"Aaack!" yelled Tim when he saw them coming, disappearing into the blackness again.

So much for my superhero, I guess.
 
Finally free of Spike's grasp, I stood again, swaying with the dizziness I'd caused by braining myself.
 
I thrust my blade out and swished and parried and touchéed and everything else I could think to do with a sword, eventually falling back on good old-fashioned stabbing and poking like I'd seen Moriah try to do to my bubble-shield before.
 
I only knew that Tim's retreat had been successful at not just escape but also finding Garrett when Spike suddenly disappeared, dragged into the blackness.
 
My moment of fright that he was being taken for something's dinner dissipated when I saw Garrett's white face coming from the dark behind me.
 
"Jayne!
 
Come now!"
 
He was waving like crazy, gesturing for me to follow him.

I gave the trolls one last slash for good measure and dashed out of the area behind Garrett.
 
I helped him lift Spike from the ground where he lay just a few feet away, the two of us dragging him to the door that I could see outlined in a dull, gray light just up ahead.

"Is that what I think it is?" I grunted out, barely able to manage Spike's dead weight while also keeping the sword at the ready.

"The door to the witch's abode?
 
Yes."
 
Garrett reached the door first and kicked it open, nearly launching Spike through the opening, surprising me with his strength.
 
Tim was right behind him, and I was the caboose.
 
I'd never been so happy about the idea of being in the Underworld as I was in the moment I stepped over the threshold of that door.

I turned back to watch Garrett come through, but he stopped in the doorway.
 

"Aren't you coming?" I asked, distractedly trying to put the sword back in its holder.

"No.
 
My journey ends here.
 
Best of luck to you, young Jayne."

"But ... how do I get to the dragons?
 
And where are you going?
 
And what about my friends who are in trouble?"

"Follow the smell of sulfur.
 
You will find all that you seek.
 
And as for me, well, I will be in the void, awaiting your return."
 
He bowed once, and then closed the door behind us.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

WE SPENT THE FIRST HALF-hour of our journey in the Underworld getting Spike conscious again.
 
He'd gotten clubbed by something, a troll fist or a weapon that one of them carried, but luckily the only side-effects seemed to be a headache and a lump by his ear.
 
I helped him to his feet and waited until he stopped swaying before we began walking.

"Come on ... we'll take it slow until you feel more steady," I said, letting him use my shoulder as support.
 
We moved away from the door in the void and further into what was the dark forest in the Here and Now.
 
In the Underworld, it was the darker forest, since everything seemed to have that taint on it, even the meadows that should have been sunny, pretty places.

"Those trolls are lucky I didn't unleash on 'em," said Tim, flying just ahead of us, doing some acrobatics now and again.
 
He turned to face us, now buzzing backwards.
 
He held up his thumb and forefinger.
 
"I was
this
close.
 
I'm serious.
 
But I had to hold back.
 
The spirits in there get a little too excited over violence.
 
I had to play it cool."
 
He reached up to fix his already perfect hair, using a comb he'd pulled from his fanny-pack.

"Yeah, Tim. You played it cool, alright.
 
Especially that part where you flew away screaming like a girl."

He shoved his comb back in his little bag, zipping it up angrily.
 
"It was a
war cry,
Jayne.
 
A war cry.
 
But what do you know ... you're no warrior.
 
Pfft."
 
Tim turned around and flew up ahead, blazing the trail for us.

"Sorry about slowing us down so much," said Spike, trudging along, only wincing every once in a while now.
 
"Troll got the jump on me, I guess.
 
I never even saw it coming.
 
Not cool."

"Yeah, I think they can see in the dark.
 
That's the second time I've had one sneak up on me.
 
Hopefully, when we go back through we can avoid them."
 
I wondered if there was such a thing as troll-be-gone spray.
 
Maybe Samantha could whip something up before we passed through again.

"Where are we going, exactly?" asked Spike about an hour later, now not leaning on me quite as heavily.

"Following our noses to the dragons.
 
Garrett says Tony and them are in some kind of trouble."
 
Even the idea of it made me feel a little sick, but I refused to dwell on the maybes.
 
I was better off focusing my energy on finding them rather than letting myself burn out over the stress.

"Did he specify exactly what
kind
of trouble? My imagination's running a little wild with that one right now."

"No, he didn't.
 
I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
 
I kind of like the idea of not stressing until I have to.
 
I think my blood pressure is already through the roof as it is."

"Yeah, I hear ya."

Tim came flying towards us from up ahead, his wings going so fast I couldn't even see them and his arms waving like he was fighting off a cloud of gnats.
 
"Get off the path!
 
Get off the path!" he said, whispering loudly, passing right by us and continuing off into the trees.

I grabbed Spike's hand without even thinking twice about it and dragged him into the forest with me, yanking him next to me behind a large evergreen.
 
Spike blended pretty well with his black clothes, but I stuck out like a friggin light in a dark room with my white tunic.
 
I made sure all of my body was tucked behind the tree before finally coming to rest, calming my breathing as much as possible.

"What's up?" Spike whispered right by my ear, tickling my neck in the process.
 
Another time it might have been pleasant, but right now all it did was kick my fear up several notches.

I put my finger to my lips in a gesture of silence, and then pointed to the trail.

Spike nodded his understanding and moved to cover my body with his.

Within seconds of being hidden, we found out what had Tim so agitated.
 
A group of orcs was walking down the path, headed in the direction we'd just been coming from, and at the front of their little party was Leck.

The orcs were grunting in their weird guttural language, but Leck was speaking English like they could understand him.
 
"They should be coming through here at any time.
 
The troll guard has passed the message that there are three in their party.
 
I want your group to wait here by the entrance for them to appear.
 
And as soon as you see them, take them under your control.
 
Do
not
kill them, though.
 
He stopped almost parallel to where we were hiding, turning to face the largest orc, the one following closest to him.
 
"I hope I am being absolutely clear here, Bor.
 
No killing.
 
At least not the elemental. Anyone else she brings, you can eat.
 
But not the elemental.
 
Do you understand?
 
No killing the elemental.
 
You bring her to me.
 
To
me.
 
Do you understand?"

Bor the orc grunted something that sounded more like he was hawking up a loogie, but Leck seemed to take it as a sign that everything was copacetic.
 
"Good.
 
I will leave you here, then.
 
I must get back to the caves and see to our guests."

Leck pushed through the beasts and went back down the path, and the orcs advanced towards the entrance to the void.

We waited until they were all out of sight before stepping out from behind the tree.
 
"That was really close," whispered Spike.
 
"Too close."

"No shit," I agreed.
 
"We need to
not
get eaten by orcs on this trip if we can manage."

Spike laughed bitterly.
 
"Apparently, you're not on the menu, unlike Tim and me."

"Pfft.
 
Do you honestly think those orcs have the brains to differentiate between an elemental and an incubus?"

He thought about it for a second before saying, "You have a point there.
 
I guess none of us is safe."

"Yeah, and menu or not, I'm pretty sure Leck isn't sparing my life to invite me to a tea party.
 
I've already been a guest of his before, and I really,
really
don't want to go through another brain-melting if I can help it."

"I don't blame you.
 
Okay, so our mission then is to find our friends and a dragon and not get caught or eaten or brain-melted."

"Ten-four good buddy.
 
I'm down with that," I said.
 
I looked around the tops of the trees.
 
"Now where did that pesky pixie go off to this time?"

"Never fear!
 
Tim is here!" yelled a tiny voice from above our heads.
 
"Wow, that was a close one.
 
I was ready to unleash on that Leck guy.
 
He so has it coming."

"You're right, he does; but I would appreciate it if you would keep your ... whatever ... leashed so we can stay a little incognito over here."

"Yeah," agreed Spike, "let's fly under the radar as long as possible."

We were back on the trail now, Tim flying out in advance to warn us about possible interceptors.
 
I changed my mind about having him along.
 
It was much better having a grown pixie with us than the baby.
 
With every step I felt more confident that a brain-melting was not going to be in my future.

"What
is
that smell?" asked Spike, his nose scrunched up, his eyes scanning the space around us as he tried to locate the source.

"That's dragon-breath, and it means we're getting close."

"How come I don't remember smelling that around the other dragons?"

"I have no idea.
 
Maybe it's brimstone.
 
You know, the stuff in hell or whatever."

"I think brimstone is lava.
 
Melted or burning stone.
 
At least that's what a preacher told me once."

"I didn't know you were a churchy guy."

"I'm not.
 
He was on the street near where I was playing one day.
 
We just got to talking and ended up on the subject of fire and brimstone."

"Wow.
 
I think I would have liked hanging out with you while you played on the streets."