CHAPTER 52: 52: DEALING WITH A TRAP PT 4

Drake and Chad’s arrows went flying, slamming into the gargoyles, not giving them time to react. They pulled their bows, releasing arrow after arrow as quickly as they could. Bursts of light particles followed as they continued to fire their arrows one after the other. All of Chad’s hits were with perfect precision, while Drake missed several. He was still learning after all, but getting better by the day.

Three of the gargoyles tried to run around the other side of the castle, away from the glowing arrows, but were stopped by Renn and Mike. Mike let his sword glow, lighting dancing up the blade, crackling menacingly. He grinned at the gargoyles in front of him.

Renn growled menacingly in warning. Her glowing green eyes were blazing as her saliva dripped from her long fangs. She appeared to be grinning in hunger at the three gargoyles in front of them.

Seeing the beast in front of them, the gargoyles’ red eyes widened; first in fear, then, realizing what was happening, their fear turned to confusion, as they understood that the beast was helping the heirs.

Mike, not looking away from the three gargoyles, spoke softly to Renn. "Are you hungry, girl?" He asked, grinning widely as he spoke. After hearing what Mike had said, the gargoyles flinched.

As if the question was an invitation, Renn leaped up, her sharp jaws opening wide and clamping down on one of the gargoyles. The gargoyle tried to scream but was cut short by Renn’s sharp jaws as she tore into the gargoyle’s throat. The wet sound of chewing followed.

Mike drove his sword through another of their heads, causing it to burst into light particles. The gargoyle had been caught by surprise, shocked by the scene in front of him. Mike swung his blade at the third and final gargoyle that was standing in front of him.

The gargoyle defended himself, countering the blade. The two swords produced sparks of light as they clashed, metal against metal. In the corner of his eyes, Mike noticed that Renn had completely devoured the gargoyle. Chunks of its flesh still hanging out of her glowing green mouth. Like a cat, she licked her large taloned claws in satisfaction, causing Mike to chuckle.

His own fight, however, continued. With one hand, he swung the blade of his glowing sword; with the other hand, he slammed his spiked fist into the gargoyle’s head. He was wearing his spiked gauntlets. To his surprise, the curved spikes lengthened, going into the gargoyle’s face. When he pulled back his fist, a large chunk of the gargoyle’s face went with it, falling off the razor-sharp tips as they shortened to their original length. "Cool," he laughed. He hadn’t known they could do that. It was a pleasant surprise.

The gargoyle was still alive, blood dripping from its ugly face. Muscles and flesh hung from tattered layers of skin. Its red eyes narrowed in anger, turning glassy from the pain. Its pointed teeth gritted angrily as it let out a growl.

Mike swung his sword, the white glow a millisecond from the blade, causing two strikes at once. As soon as the metallic sword connected, sparks flying as their two blades met, metal against metal, he slammed his fist again, aiming for the same spot on the gargoyle’s damaged face. When the curved spikes connected with the monster’s face, the spikes lengthened again, this time even longer, reaching the depths of the monster’s skull and piercing all the way through to the other side.

Mike pulled back his fist, brain matter and skull fragments coming out with it. The gargoyle burst into particles of light, vanishing out of sight.

Mike looked around for more, but the battle had already ended. He looked down and stroked the top of Renn’s large head, smiling. "Good Girl," he told her. "We make a good team."

Renn made a soft bark-howl sound, satisfied by Mike’s words. He only chuckled as they headed toward the others.

They walked out to see how Drake and Chad had fared.

{Gargoyles defeated 24/267, 243 remaining}

Drake was watching the castle again, watching for more gargoyles to exit. The number on his quest message was going down, but not enough. There were still two hundred and forty-three left. He needed more to exit, dwindling their numbers even further. The less they had to fight during the final battle, the better.

He knew that after the last group of ten didn’t return, the gargoyle king would know that his men were being taken out one by one. As soon as he realized it, the battle would truly start. It didn’t stop Drake from wishing that the gargoyle king would continue to send smaller groups. He feared what the actual battle would be like. Last time they battled at Draco Town, Chad nearly died.

Thinking of this, Drake looked up once again at the ever-darkening sky. His face pointed up as he closed his eyes, looking serene before he returned his focus to the door only moments later.

Mike noticed Drake’s behavior, his eyes going to Chad. It was clear Chad had noticed Drake’s behavior, too. Chad shrugged, not knowing what Drake was up to.

Renn and Mike finally returned to where Chad and Drake were concealed from the view of those in the castle, then hid with them.

Mike stared at Drake for a second, then decided to ask. "What’s with the sky?" he asked. "You keep looking at it strangely."

Drake smirked, still looking at the castle door. "My trump card."

Mike and Chad both looked up into the sky, trying to see what Drake was talking about. They couldn’t see anything because it was too dark. It was almost as if the clouds themselves wanted to help them.

"Can you control the storms now?" Mike probed, trying to figure out what was going on.

Drake shook his head. "Not that I know of. Perhaps it’s something to test on a day I’m not about to fight for my life."

There was silence as they watched the castle door. Drake’s eyes glowed softly as he looked at the light forms inside the castle. For him, they were white and grey. The white were the humans, who were clustered in the center of the throne room, with the grey surrounding them. The grey were the gargoyles.

Drake suddenly spoke. "There’s movement. I think the king knows his people are being attacked when they exit the castle. I think the battle is about to start."

Inside the throne room, Drake could see that the humans remained clumped in the middle with the gargoyles surrounding them. The gargoyles moved quickly, leaving the humans where they were as they filed out of the throne room. Only a dozen stayed behind. They spread out evenly as the others left. However, there was one that stood apart from the others. Drake guessed that the solitary gargoyle was the gargoyle king.

"They’re pretty much all coming out. There are a dozen still in the throne room. I bet the king is one of them." Drake stated aloud. He kept his voice low.

"What’s the plan?" Mike asked. His eyes were going toward the castle’s front door. He was worried about having to fight so many at once. From what Drake had told them, he knew that it was way over a hundred gargoyles.

"We’ve caused a bottleneck for them as they come out of the castle, so we need to shoot them as they come out. This is going to be a long battle, so try not to deplete your energy. Remember, we still have one token left that Chad is the only one who can activate. I used mine on you," he said, pointing to Chad, "and you used yours on me," he pointed to Mike. "Chad, you can use yours, I think, even on yourself. Don’t use it unless you have no other choice. Remember that your sword can heal, and we still have a long way to go before we finish this damn quest."

***

The dimension master and his two friends watched in apprehension at the screen in Drake’s bedroom.

They were able to see the battle Mike had fought alongside the beast with glowing green eyes. He had won fairly easily. That was a good sign...at least it was until Drake spoke.

The three men’s faces paled as they had all heard what Drake had told the other two boys. All but a dozen were exiting the throne room and coming outside. That was over a hundred gargoyles against three teens who had been in the dimension for nearly a week. That was not long enough for the boys to hone their fighting skills, nor was it long enough to figure out and utilize the powers that they had already received. They would receive the rest when the ascension quest was complete.

The three fathers feared that there wasn’t enough experience among the three youths to defeat so many gargoyles at one time.

"What about Drake’s trump card?" Chad’s father asked. "What do you think it could be. He can’t possibly control storms yet." He was baffled, not sure if whatever this so-called trump card was, if it would be enough to keep the boys alive.