Chapter 6

Seeing the shadow begin to grow in size and shape, Rex recognised it immediately, ‘Glad for the assistance Marcia.’

Once Fafnir saw the skylark being ridden by Marcia ascending over the top of the lava beetle, he roared, “Flip the beast over quickly, we must kill it and return to dispatch Telagus!”

Realising he had lost Telagus’s location while being focused on the beetle, Rex did a quick scan, spying him within seconds, fighting a group of his soldiers to carve a path through the ranks of soldiers who attempted to cut off their retreat, ‘We are losing too many men while battling this thing, we have to make this quick!’

Dropping a little quicker, Ulna spread her talons under Marcia’s directions, quickly clamping to either side of the beetle’s outer shell, but before they could heave the beetle upward to flip it over, it quickly flicked its shell open, exposing the softer flesh and wings underneath. Seizing a quick opening, Marcia dropped onto the shell and drove her sword deep into the beetle’s back causing it to screech loudly, starting to buck violently while trying to bring its outer shell back in to crush the intruder. Straining against Ulna’s grip, the beetle bucked again as Marcia started to slice upward toward the beast’s head, orange blood beginning to flow from the deep cut she was making.

‘Tell Marcia to steer clear of the blood, it’s called a lava beetle for a reason, they live in magma and their blood is as equally hot, so if you touch it, your skin will melt,’ Fafnir said, dashing forward to grab the beetle’s now distracted head to prevent further bucking.

‘Marcia, don’t touch the…’ Rex began to say, his words being cut short, feeling a sharp burning sensation hit his chest, hearing Marcia scream at the same time, once she screamed in pain, Ulna also seemed to become distracted by the suddenness, the skylark’s grip over the beetle’s outer shell slipped, it clamping down over Marcia once it was free, just as Marcia looked up and saw what was happening, her eyes went wide, a mixture of shock and fear, with mere feet before the shell clamped shut, her still side, Ulna did the only thing it could do in the mere seconds, dropping its body into the gap, the shell clamping shut over Ulna’s chest, just under the wing joints, screeching in pain with the crush of the shell coming together.

‘Rex, kill the beetle!! It’s crushing Ulna!!’ Marcia screamed in panic, driving her sword in and out of the beetle’s back, being sure to try and prevent any spatters from hitting either of them, the beetle’s body screeched in pain, still being held in place by Fafnir.

‘Rex! I will lift its head, drive that sword into the gap,’ Fafnir roared, inhaling a deep breath, straining his legs, fighting against the beetle to slowly lift, staying clear of its gnashing mandibles.

Between Marcia’s stabbing and Fafnir lifting its head up, the beetle began to weaken enough to force a gap under its armoured head, exposing a few inches of soft flesh, the beetle seemed to sense this happening, bucking once more wildly, being able to catch one side of its mandible onto Fafnir’s jaw, it sinking into the skin under one of his scales.

‘Rex hurry, if it gets any deeper it will nick a vein!’ Fafnir roared.

‘Rex!! Ulna won’t make it much longer!!’ Marcia pleaded through their bond, getting the attention of the other girls, Lizz included and they rushed over to help their distressed companion.

Dashing forward, Rex took a deep breath in and with perfect accuracy drove the tip of his sword deep into the exposed neck flesh, stopping once the hilt bottomed out, the beetle’s eyes widened, it making a gurgling sound, flicking its head around wildly, its mandible that was imbedded under Fafnir’s scale sunk in a few more inches deeper, Fafnir roaring in pain and releasing the beetle’s head and grasping his neck once the mandible slid out, a thick purple substance seeping out between his claws.

Once its head was released, the beetle turned his attention to Rex, who sensed the beast was going to try the same tactic with him, he raised one hand in a mad attempt to prevent the beetle’s head from dropping, grasping the hilt of his sword tightly with the other hand, once the head reached Rex’s raised hand, he strained, grunting from the effort, he was able to slow the beetle enough from shutting the gap under its head, he closed his eyes, remembering a spell Markus had taught him, he grasped magic and with a sweeping circular motion with his sword hand, he severed the beetle’s head, orange blood gushing over him from the open neck stump, the beetle’s body dropping onto its stomach at the same time.

‘Rex!’ Fafnir called weakly, watching the beetle’s blood spray straight over Rex, covering him entirely, steam hissing once it made contact.

Lacey and Minet both jumped onto the beetle’s back, and after a few strained attempts, they were able to pry the shell open enough to release Ulna, Marcia being under the skylark, and with the help of a quick spurt of magic, was able to prevent her from dropping into the exposed openings she had made with her sword in the beetle’s back.

Adding Minet and Lacey’s combined strength to her own, the three women slowly and carefully dragged and pushed Ulna’s frame out through the opening they had created, “Please hold on my baby, we will have you out soon,” Marcia begged Ulna, hearing her skylark’s breathing becoming shorter and shallower with each passing minute.

Laying the skylark out once it was freed, Marcia started surveying the damage it had sustained, her eyes brimming with tears the longer she inspected her mount, feeling many multiple broken ribs, both wings wing sockets were broken, and upon placing her ear to the side of Ulna’s chest, she could hear bubbling as the bird breathed, the tell-tale sign of pierced lungs filling with fluid.

“REX!” Marcia screamed, looking around desperately, everyone jolting when feeling the pain and loss through their bond, “Please help Ulna! Rex!!??”

“Over here!” Lizz cried out, reaching the front of the beetle, spying Rex laying in a charred circle, pieces of his clothes and skin were badly burnt, the worst being where his hand gripped his sword, showing parts of the bone in his hand, once she saw how bad the wounds were Lizz turned and vomited.

“Holy shit,” Minet and Lacey both said in unison once they ran over to where Lizz was wiping her mouth from a recent vomiting fit, seeing the damage the beetle’s magma blood had done to Rex’s body.

Markus had just arrived, quickly taking in the scene, he bolted over to Ulna, “I’m not as proficient as Rector or Rex, but I will do what I can to try and help her,” he said to Marcia, closing his eyes and taking in deep breaths to calm his rapid pulse, he was still a little fatigued from a recent battle, after a few seconds, he was calm enough to draw upon the magic required for his magical evaluation, he was not skilled enough for it to show others but himself, and once it lit up above Ulna, his eyes dropped almost instantly, “I will do what I can to ease her pain, but her life’s pillar fades rapidly, we cannot even heal this much damage done to any of us.”

“Impossible, REX! He healed her from a terrible disease that would have killed her before, where the f**k is Rex?” Marcia screamed wildly, tears starting to stream down her face as she leapt to her feet, sprinting around to the front of the beetle where the others had gone, stopping in shock once she saw the scene. Lacey and Minet were helping an unconscious Rex, dragging him over and propping him up against the side of the beetle, deep burns exposing sinew and bone in places, Lizz quickly laid out herb over his wounds, muttering spells at the same time, while Fafnir was slowly limping himself over to Rex, still holding his neck while the purple liquid dripped slowly from the gaps in his claws.

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“Well my sweet, it seems the beast was defeated.”

“Sküülen? What am I doing here?” Rex asked, looking around at his surroundings only being able to see Sküülen sitting in one of two chairs facing each other, the rest of his surroundings were off-white with no other detail.

“That silly little shield you attempted to place on yourself was hardly enough, by the time I realised it would collapse and I would lose my most interesting host yet to a measly beast, I HAD to do something, your body will heal quickly so you we don’t have much time here, I have a new deal.”

“Enough deals, what do you want?” Rex asked, falling heavily into the chair exasperated.

“That is no way to treat your saviour my sweet,” Sküülen gasped, placing a hand over her mouth with a fake shocked expression, “I am a woman who deals in…well, deals. So here it is, I want you to allow me out of this prison to join you in this battle since your pet cannot.”

“Fafnir is injured? Wait, prison?” Rex said, turning back to Sküülen eyeing her suspiciously.

“You haven’t asked what you would like in return,” Sküülen smiled, dismissing Rex’s enquiry.

“Why are you in prison?”

“Will you answer my proposition, if I answer your question my sweet?”

“Yes.”

“I killed Lokmar’s mate, hm, seems like eons ago now,” Sküülen replied, staring off into the distance.

“As in Fafnir’s father, THE Lokmar?” Rex asked, not being able to hide his shock.

“Yes, yes, story for another time, my hold over you being here fades, what is your decision?”

“What do I get from this? And are you still bound to me and the sword you call a prison?” Rex asked, thinking quickly, he did not want to be responsible for releasing another horror.

“Not stupid either,” Sküülen smiled.

“Not all the time.”