133 – A Small Crash

Mal looked at Rolam up and down. He seemed to be relatively uninjured, though his clothes were stained with dirt from combat.

“I'm serious, we need to go after them, don't we?” Rolam said.

“They can fly. There's no way we'll be able to catch up.”

“No, they can't,” Rolam said.

“What are you talking about?”

“They fell over the side of the wall. They're too heavy, or there aren't enough bugs. I'm not sure, but if they could actually fly, they would have just gone up.”

Mal froze.

He turned his head toward the open hole in the magical barrier. He broke into a sprint, spreading mana throughout his body. He jumped, activating his Airgrass boots. A gust of wind shot out of them, and he flew directly through the hole. He touched the ground. A second later, only well within sight, was a black swarm of bugs, only a few pathetic inches off the ground. It tumbled and rolled along the mountainside, seemingly unable to gain enough lift to be carried away by the wind.

Rolam burst forward in a flurry of speed.

He leapt into the air, then swung his sword horizontally. A blast of energy ripped from his blade and cut into the swarm. Hundreds of bugs dropped dead with wet splats against the ground.

Mal needed to catch up. He steeled his nerves, then forced himself forward.

He jumped straight off a vertical section of the cliff.

Gravity took hold and he fell fast enough to catch up with the others. At the last second, a small bit of mana went into his boots. The boots responded, and air ripped from them and slowed his fall. He dropped into a roll, then sprung into a position next to Rolam.

He mentally tugged on the surrounding plants. A frenzy of green, vines and roots and leaves shot towards the swarm of bugs. They concentrated in key points to stop the greenery from wrapping around Nima and Ekron.

Without the bugs to support them, the two fell out of the black swarm, then scrambled forward to continue running.

Rolam sprinted ahead of Mal and extended out his blade. He cut in a diagonal cut toward Nima, the blade met his shoulder—

Then the image exploded into glass shards.

The real Nima and Ekron appeared just a scant few feet away. They disappeared into a particularly thick set of brush. Mal raced behind them, crashed through the brush, then came out the other side—

The airship docks.

Nima and Ekron had already jumped on one. Nima ran up to the steering wheel and pushed forward on it, against the rope tying it to a wooden post.

The airship jerked forward with a long, groaning wheeze as the wood bent and shifted, till it ripped out a chunk of the post.

Rolam dashed forward, then jumped onto the edge of the boat. He tucked himself over the top and disappeared from Mal's sight.

Mal measured the distance with his eyes. He wouldn't be able to make it with his Airgrass boots. Would Rolam have to face down both of them on his own?

Mal's eyes scanned his surroundings. He spotted another airship.

He ran past two confused dockyard workers, then jumped up onto the rear of the ship.

He pushed the steering wheel forward, and just like Ekron and Nima, he ripped the post out.

He heaved and put his entire bodyweight behind the wheel, and bit by bit, he gained speed until he wasn't too far from the other airship.

There he is.

Rolam was facing off against Nima and Ekron on the top, multiple cuts across his body, his blade drooped unusually low. Ekron caught sight of Mal, then turned his whole body to face Mal's ship. His eyes widened, his jaw dropped and he staggered back.

Surprised to see me?

Nima looked at him, shook his head frantically, and tried to make an X with his arms.

Mal continued on. The stern of his own ship approached ever closer to the other ship. Nima rushed to the steering wheel to try to maneuver out of the way.

But it was too late.

Mal's stern crashed into the side of the other airship. A sound like a stampede of animals ripped out from the explosion site. A red ball of flame erupted from the impact, debris went everywhere, and a stray bit of wood flew directly toward Mal's head. Unable to dodge, it cracked against Mal's skull, and he blacked out.

Mal's ears rang with a high-pitched hum. Dirt bit against his cheek and hands like needles. He pushed himself off the ground to be greeted with the sight of a burning wreckage—two airships crashed directly into a forest. To his side, Rolam groaned.

"What the hell was that, honored leader?"

"A plan." A spike of pain went up Mal's—"Not a very well thought out one, I'll admit."

The wreckage up ahead cracked. A pile of wood shifted, then Ekron rose out of it, body disfigured. There was a large, gaping hole in the side of his leg. A piece of metal had gone straight through his stomach. His head was bloodied and matted.

The expression on his face was utterly calm. He ripped the chunk of metal out, and the wounds and his skin grew back as if by magic.

Rolam turned green and made a vomiting noise. Even Mal couldn't stop his face from twisting up instinctively.

“What, did you expect me to just leave it in there?” Ekron asked.

“I didn't expect anything,” Mal said, “except maybe your death.”

“I'm afraid death is beyond possibility for me, as of now.”

Rolam wiped off the spittle and green fluids from the edges of his lips, then picked up his sword, which had miraculously survived the crash.

“You're outnumbered, surrender.”

“Am I?”

Footsteps sounded out behind them. At first a handful, then dozens.

One by one, creatures of the forest stumbled out, fur blackened, skin dry.

“I didn't divert all of my forces to the stadium. Nima suggested that I should keep some on reserve.”

Ekron paused.

He waited, and waited.

Mal's eyes widened. He's waiting for Nima.

Ekron's shoulders tensed.

“He ran away.” He narrowed his eyes.. “No matter. Your defeat is assured. You're both exhausted, tired from battle. You stand no chance.”

Mal took stock of his supplies. He kicked his boots lightly, and only a sad, small puff of air came out. His satchel was noticeably light, he probably had no seeds left, maybe a handful.

But they were outside—and that was where he was strongest.

Mal pulled his fist up, and with it sent a small pulse of mana into his bracelet. Grass ripped out of the ground with a duststorm of soil. The greenery wrapped up and around the creatures, then squeezed them tight enough to make their bones creak.

Ekron tilted his head. A glowing ring appeared at the base of his feet, then expanded out.

Mal's breath caught in his throat. He sent one more pulse into his Bramblevine bracelet and set up a wall of grass in front of them.

A loud crunch came from behind the wall. At the edges, the grass turned a thick black, the leaves withered and fell off, withered and grayed, and drooped, the life sucked out from them completely.

The vines and grass wrapped around the animals writhed. In one fell swoop, they blackened and withered, just the same as the edges of the wall.

He's out of energy, definitely.

Another crunch, the black spread.

Mal locked eyes with Rolam. “Run.”

Rolam sucked in a breath. “Run.”

The two broke off into a sprint. Rolam quickly began to outpace Mal, distance between them widening.

Damn it, why is he so fast.

Rolam glanced back. He turned his upper body, then swiped his sword through the air. A blast of mana ripped past Mal's shoulder, then collided with a creature behind him.

Now outside of the ring, Mal was able to send a command to another group of plants. Roots whipped through the air and straight across Ekron's face. A long, thin line ran down his cheek. Ekron blasted it with another surge of black magic, and the root stilled and died.

Two yips came at Mal's heels. Mal swiped his dagger behind himself at an awkward angle and managed to slash them in half. Three more appeared to take their place, two deer and one wolf.

What kind of a travesty to the animal kingdom is this? Mal thought.

One of the deer abruptly sped up, and rammed into Mal with its antlers. They slapped into Mal's back and tossed him to the ground.

The hooves came down, then missed his head by inches.

The wolf stopped, turned, and opened its jaw wide for Mal's neck. Rolam's blade once again saved Mal from death. With a quick flick of his wrist, the sword sunk into the wolf's neck and sent the head tumbling to the ground.

The mouth continued struggling to reach out and bite Mal's ankle, even with the lack of a body.

Two more wolves came out of the brush, both surrounding Ekron. Ekron stepped forward. He glanced at Rolam, then at Mal. The two wolves leapt at Mal. Rolam made to slash one of them out of the air—and he didn't see the wolf that he'd killed, its head reattached, slinking toward him from behind.

Mal opened his mouth to warn him. Every muscle in his body ached to move.

But it was too late.

A crack ripped through the air.