Jack Templar and the Monster Hunter Academy: The Templar Chronicles: Book 2 (26 page)

After I was back on solid land, I looked across the ravine and saw that it was still covered with millions of spiders. I shivered at the thought of the other hunters and how they must have been devoured by those tiny things. There really weren’t any good ways to die, but being eaten alive by a swarm of spiders certainly qualified as a bad way to go.

I reached into my pocket and took out the ring. I’d done it.

“Don’t get cocky. You’ve got to make it back first,” I reminded myself. I slid the ring back into my pocket and set off for the exit to the Academy.

Thankfully, the way back was uneventful. Good thing too because I was out of glowing paint and the light from my sword was steadily dimming as I walked. I spotted a few dark shadows crawling on the walls, but they appeared to have no interest in me. Even the bats had moved to another part of the cave. The hike up the steep face where I slid down was a challenge because it was so slippery and I knew I could easily start another avalanche if I wasn’t careful. But I took my time and made it up safely.

As I got closer to the door, my pace quickened. I was eager to get out of the cave and see the light of day. Although I wasn’t even sure how long I had been underground to know if it was day or night outside, I had honored my pledge to both Aquinas and Tiberon. Not only would I have full monster hunter status and be free to leave the Academy, but Tiberon would have to tell me the location of both the Jerusalem Stones and the dungeons where Ren Lucre held my father. I was one step closer to saving my father.

But besides all this, there was one other reason that I was eager to get out.

Eva.

She had been the voice and the face I had carried with me through the entire ordeal. I found myself thinking about her more with each step closer to the door.

Besides, it was steadily getting darker as the paint faded. I wasn’t eager to try to finish the journey without light.

When I finally spotted the iron door at the end of the final tunnel, I broke into a run. I had heard the locks engage when they had shut the door behind me, so I wasn’t surprised when it didn’t open when I pushed against it.

I knocked on the door, but it still didn’t open. I grabbed a rock and pounded on the door, thinking perhaps it was just hard to hear on the other side.

Still nothing.

“Hey!” I shouted. “It’s Jack. Jack Templar. Open up!” 

Silence.

Over and over, I pounded on the door. With my hands, my sword, rocks. Anything I could use to make sound.

Still nothing.

For over an hour, I hammered and banged on the door until my hands nearly bled from the effort.

Over time, the light on my sword faded, allowing the staggering darkness around me to crowd in. But there was no reply behind the gate. Not a sound of any kind from the other side of the door.

I sagged to the ground as the last of the light disappeared from my sword, tears welling up in my eyes from exhaustion and frustration. I couldn’t understand what was happening. Why weren’t they opening the door? I had made it back. I had the ring. I had…

And that’s when it hit me. What if I had been wrong about which ring to take? What if it had been the diamond ring all along? Maybe Aquinas was on the other side of the door with the others, refusing to let it open because I hadn’t completed my quest.

I pulled the ring out of my pocket and rolled it over in my hand in the pitch black. Doubts flooded my mind. I tried to imagine finding my way back to the old tomb in the dark, crawling through the caves, not knowing what creatures could be lurking around me. I shuddered at the thought. It was impossible. Even if I did make it back there, how was I supposed to cross the chasm again? How was I supposed to survive the millions of spiders?

No, I had trusted my instinct and I had chosen the wrong ring. Unless Aquinas took pity on me and opened the door, there was no getting out. I had enough food for a day or two, but after that I was going to have to hunt if I wanted to stay alive. Maybe if I was lucky I would find another way out of the cave. But if I wasn’t, I knew I was already standing in my grave. 

As I mulled over my fate, I slid the stone ring onto my finger.

With a burst of light, the cold stone blazed red with fire. I nearly clawed it back off my finger for fear of being burned, but there was no heat and no pain. I heard the bolts and gears of the door clank around in front of me; then, with a whoosh of air, the seal broke and the door opened.

As I stepped through the thick iron gateway, the ring on my finger turned back into a simple, black stone. But I didn’t have a chance to marvel at what had just happened because I immediately heard shouts and screams coming from the training fields.

I ran toward it as fast as I could but stopped when I cleared the gates that led from the caves. All the buildings were on fire. Hunters were running in every direction, brandishing their weapons. In the center of the training grounds, the Templar Tree was ablaze like a giant torch.

The Monster Hunter Academy was under attack.

Chapter Sixteen

I
nstructors barked orders at the younger hunters, organizing them into fire brigades in long lines from the wells to the worst of the blazes. Those not fighting the fires were caring for the injured. And there were a lot of them. I saw hunters with blood soaked bandages, others limping toward the protection of the Citadel.

Anything not made of stone was on fire. I looked to the main gates and saw they were intact and shut. Whatever had done this hadn’t broken through the defenses yet. I grabbed a hunter running past me. I recognized him from one of my classes. His name was Ben, one of the younger boys. He had a fluffy mop of reddish brown hair, sharp, twinkling eyes, and spent most of his classes cracking jokes. There was no humor in him now. His eyes looked me over like I was a wild creature.

“Ben, it’s me, Jack! What happened?” I asked. I felt his body trembling in my hands.

“Th…th…they came from the sk…sk…sky,” Ben stuttered. “L…l…looking for…looking for…”

“What were they looking for, Ben? What was it?” I asked.

He pointed toward the mountain face above us. There, burning right on the rock face, were four enormous letters, each as tall as a building.

J…A…C…K.

A piercing scream erupted overhead and a black shadow soared over the field. A burst of flame geysered from its mouth and hit the ground like a bomb. Dirt and snow blasted up into the air. Ben tore himself from me and ran away from the streaking form. The terrifying figure flew past the raging fires and I was able to see it more clearly. A dragon.

Every bit as terrifying and awesome as Hollywood made them out to be. It was long and serpentine, with an elongated neck and a waving, supple tail that twitched behind it during flight. Its black body glistened with the reflection of the fiery destruction beneath it but was covered with thousands of small scales, giving it the look of a snake. It had tall horns next to long pointed ears that lay flat against its head like an angry cat. A long snout and beady, red eyes swung back and forth across the field, as if searching the faces of the hunters who ran scattered beneath it. I watched in horror as it grabbed a hunter about my height and with my color of hair. The kid screamed as the dragon’s talons wrapped around his midsection and he was lifted into the air. The dragon held the hunter up to one of its red eyes, then tossed the kid aside like he was a piece of unwanted trash. The hunter hit the ground hard and lay there, writhing in pain, as the dragon banked hard and came back across the field for another pass.

I felt that someone had taken a sledgehammer to my stomach. I looked at the devastation all around me. This was all my fault. I should never have come to the Academy. I’d put everyone at risk. Especially Will and T-Rex, who, without me, would still be safe in Sunnyvale.

A cry went up behind me. I spun around and saw a second dragon, this one even larger than the first. It ejected a searing stream of flame across the camp and ended its pass across the field by kicking down the burning mess hall. The structure crumbled into itself with a burst of flame and sparks. As I watched it fall, I felt my fear and guilt transform into anger. I gripped my sword in my right hand and decided there was time to feel bad later. Right now, I had some dragons to take care of. It was time for this hunter to fight back.

I sprinted across the field toward the main wall. I needed height in order to reach the dragons. Halfway across, I suddenly felt a stiff wind behind me. Without turning, I threw myself to the ground just as one of the dragons streaked over me, its powerful wings kicking up clods of dirt. As I scrambled back to my feet, I spotted Eva running toward the Templar Tree.

“Eva! Wait!” I yelled.

But there was no way she was going to hear me over the noise of the battle. She reached the tree, now just a raging fire, and climbed up onto one of its lower branches, picking her way through the fire to get higher. Even as I worried about her, I couldn’t help but smile at her audacity. That was one crazy girl.

Another blast of fire on the far side of the training ground erupted over by the stables. Seconds later, I saw Bacho’s unmistakable silhouette framed against the raging fire. He swung open a pasture gate and dozens of horses ran free into the training grounds, escaping the burning fencing. Saladin led the other horses to safety. But the great white horse must have seen me as he banked hard and ran straight in my direction. I readied myself as he galloped closer. I reached up for his neck as he ran by and swung up onto his back.

“Good boy!” I yelled. “To the walls!”

A shriek split the air over my head. A dragon arced low over the field and came up behind us.

“Run, Saladin!” I cried.

But Saladin needed no urging. He ran hard, dodging the ing hunters as he did. Still, the dragon bore down and I heard a great inhalation of breath. It was about to spit fire.

Sensing the same, Saladin planted his hooves in the snow, sliding for a second before changing course ninety degrees to the right.

The change was so sudden that I lurched to the left and only stopped myself from falling off by grabbing handfuls of Saladin’s mane.

Behind us, I felt the wall of fire blaze, incinerating the ground where we had been seconds before. The dragon flew past us and circled up in the sky, looking for other targets.

I patted Saladin’s neck. “Good boy,” I said. “Now, to the wall. Hurry!”  

Saladin ran to the wall. The buildings that lined its base and served as bulwarks were all ablaze. I jumped off Saladin and was about to climb the stone stairs that led up to the watchtower next to the gate itself, when I heard a familiar voice behind me.

“C’mon you dirty lizards, I’ll run you through!” Will yelled at the flying dragons, a crossbow in his hands.

“Will!” I called out, running to him.

He spun toward me, his eyes wild. It took him a second to process what he was seeing, then he grabbed me in a bear hug. “You made it!” he cried.

“Looks like things really fell apart while I was gone,” I said, trying to sound braver than I felt. “Where’s T-Rex?”

Something smashed into me from behind, nearly knocking me over. I thought one of the dragons had me for sure. Then I felt arms squeezing me on both sides and T-Rex’s voice. “Oh man, oh man, I can’t believe it,” he stammered.

Once he let me go, the three of us had a split second where we stood in a small circle, grinning at one another. No one said anything. No one had to. We were just happy to be together again.

A blast of fire right over our heads ended our little moment and put us into action.

“Will, you and T-Rex go to the armory and see if you can still get in. Hand out as many crossbows as you can.”

“Who should I give them to?” he asked.

“Everybody,” I said.

“What about them?” Will asked, pointing at a group of Ratlings just behind T-Rex.

It was a motley collection, some rail thin and scrawny, others pudgy and soft. Half of them had some kind of permanent injury, like a missing limb, or a patch over a missing eye. All of them looked terrified, but I could tell by their faces that they weren’t about to run away. They stood bravely and awaited instructions.

“Where’s Bacho?” I asked.

“Freeing the horses and livestock,” T-Rex said. “He left me in charge of these guys.” He grabbed my arm, determined. “We Ratlings can fight, Jack. It’s our Academy too.”

I grinned at T-Rex, welling up with pride at his courage. It seemed the nose-picking young boy was long gone. “Right you are,” I agreed, turning to the Ratlings. “And glad to have you. We need everyone’s help. All of you, go with Will and get the weapons. Hurry!”  

“What are you going to do?” T-Rex asked.

I nodded to the watchtower behind us. “I’m going up there.”

“And then what?” 

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I haven’t gotten that far.”

Will grinned. “Then you better get going so you can figure it out. Come on, you guys. Let’s go.”

I watched them disappear into the smoke-filled field. For the second time in as many days, I was left wondering if I would ever see my friends again.

I mounted the stairs and bounded up them two at a time. When I reached the top I had a view of the entire Academy. For the first time, I saw a band of hunters putting up a defense. In the center of them was a familiar figure, Daniel. Recovered from his poisoning, he stood his ground with a bandage wrapped around his head covering his nose. He fired a crossbow repeatedly at the dragon swooping over the field. Despite our differences, I couldn’t have been happier to see him.

In between firing crossbow shots, he barked instructions at those around him, organizing a retreat through the Citadel gates. Most of the instructors fought by him even as they corralled as many hunters as possible toward the caves. I spotted Aquinas among them, helping two injured hunters off the battlefield.

I turned my back to the fighting and looked out into the calm of the dark forest beyond the main walls. It seemed like a different world from the chaos behind me. I didn’t know if what I was going to do would work, but I had to try.