'You'll make sure that Tala gets to safety.'
'Of course, I'm not a monster. No matter what you may think.'
'Deal then.' I braced myself, and expelled as much magic into the wall of fire as I could manage, until I felt myself slipping, until I could no longer stop myself and it became second nature to allow the magic to flow freely for as long as it wanted. Until I began to feel like I was a passenger in my own body. Until the nightmare inside of me had taken control.
Chapter 26
I looked out through eyes that were my own, but no longer in my use. It was my turn to be a silent partner as the nightmare took control.
Tala sat next to me, making a noise akin to a whimper. The nightmare stared down at her and I felt it wondering why it should help her survive. Why it should use precious resources to help her flee. And then it remembers that I told it to. That it was part of our bargain.
'Child,' the nightmare said after a few seconds. The voice was my own, but different-the speech was all wrong, as if the words weren't used to being spoken out loud.
Tala glanced up at me, and recoiled slightly when she saw my eyes. I knew what they must look like- blackness spilling out from them, covering my face from my forehead to my mouth, with little patches of pink showing through, the only evidence of my waning influence.
'Child,' the nightmare repeated to her. 'When I say go, you will run to that door and hammer on it for all you're worth. Tell them Nathan sent you.'
'I can't run.'
'Then you will die,' the nightmare explained. The nightmare placed one of my hands on Tala's leg, and the orange glyphs on that arm turned to turn to black as my blood magic did its work. 'I have healed your foot as much as possible under the circumstances. You can run for now. I suggest that when I tell you to go, you use that ability.'
Tala nodded.
The nightmare placed my hand onto the ground once more, and the glyphs returned to orange. It inhaled deeply and the glyphs ignited with a pure brilliance. And then the fire wall exploded outward.
Anything beside the billowing flame died instantly. The force of the explosion was so great, that even those who weren't close enough to feel its full force were still taken from their feet and thrown onto the ground a few yards back.
The nightmare stood and stared down at Tala. 'Run.'
Tala wasted no time, sprinted like her life depended on it, racing to the door and hammering on it while screaming my name. Eventually it was opened and a nervous Sergeant Roberts emerged, dragging the girl inside. He glanced over at the nightmare, and paused before he darted back inside, closing the door behind him.
There was a heartbeat of silence. Nothing moved. The barrens that were still on their feet appeared to be disorientated by the fact that they were no longer faced with an obstacle to their food.
Nightmares were an extension of the sorcerer's true ability. They showed what you were capable of. It was why inviting them into your psyche was so inviting. The one inside me wielded my own magic with an ease and power that was breath-taking. It moved with speed and grace, flinging wind and fire magic at anything that moved. It cleaved barrens as if they were the stalks of flowers. Bodies fell all around it in piles, but no matter what it did, the barrens kept coming, driven by something far more dangerous than a desire to survive-it was the need to feed, to tear into living flesh. It overrode any sense of self-preservation. And the nightmare was more than happy to help them on their way.
The nightmare darted into the stables. Two barrens were already on the floor, their heads pounded to mush as the horses kicked and fought against their would-be attackers. A young boy, pitchfork in hand, stood in front of Valour's stall, holding off the three remaining barrens.
None of them saw the nightmare until it was too late. It slammed my open palm into the back of the nearest one and unleashed a blast of air which blew out the entire front of its torso. Body parts landed on the straw-covered ground with a splat, but the nightmare had already moved on to the second barren, which was decapitated by a blade of hardened air. The last barren, intent on getting to the stable boy, hadn't even paid attention to what was happening until that same blade punctured through its back and moved upward, exiting through its neck.
The boy, now covered in black, barren blood, stared at his saviour.
'Take care of the horse,' the nightmare said. 'You should wash before that blood starts to infect anything.'
The boy nodded, as the nightmare stepped back out onto the courtyard. A gust of magically enhanced wind picked up one barren and drove it into the fort's wooden entrance. The barren and gate disintegrated upon impact, blood and pieces of wood smeared across the ground and walls.
The nightmare took a step toward the exit and stopped. A noise sounded from out of the darkness beyond the ruined gate. As one, the remaining barrens stopped fighting, and ran through the shattered gate, into the darkness.
In their place stepped a large man. He wore a long, flowing duster that covered everything except for his cowboy boots and hat. His eyes burned red.
This was the monster that had nearly killed Sam.
'Do you know what I am?' the newcomer asked.
'Lich,' the nightmare said. 'Evil.'
The lich laughed, and I was almost certain that if I'd been in control of my body, I would have shivered. 'Says the thing everyone is terrified of becoming.'
The nightmare remained silent.
'Do you plan on fighting me?' the lich asked.
'No,' it said. 'I plan on killing you.' A torrent of fire and air shot from the palms of the nightmare and engulfed the lich, who didn't even try to defend itself. The outline of the lich was lost somewhere inside the maelstrom of fire and wind, but once it was over and the magic subsided, the lich was still standing where he'd been. The only evidence that anything had happened was that his clothes were burnt, and his hat gone, showing a bald head.
'Interesting,' the lich said. 'Your host has a great deal of power.'
'Yes, he does,' the nightmare responded. 'Allow me to show you more of it.' My body went from stationary to sprinting in a heartbeat. It slammed a fire wrapped fist into the jaw of the lich which moved slightly. The lich laughed, and I felt cold horror dawn over the nightmare. ' I can't win this.'
It was the last thing the nightmare thought before the lich punched it in the stomach, lifting it off the ground by several feet, and then grabbed it by the throat before it could fall. 'You stupid little sorcerer,' the lich said. 'You can't defeat me with magic.' It brought my body close to it, and then head-butted me on the nose, before releasing me and following up with a punch which broke my jaw.
The nightmare tried to get off the ground, but the lich was relentless, raining blows that would have killed a human. Every time the nightmare tried to fight back, the lich was faster and stronger. It smashed the nightmare head first into the nearest building, and then dragged it back out of the destroyed brick work by my ankle, only to begin kicking my body in the side. Every blow did damage, and I knew that it could kill me anytime it chose.
'So,' the lich said, holding my head up by the hair. 'That's a broken nose, jaw, orbital bone, clavicle and several ribs.'
The nightmare tried to see through the damaged eye, which was bloody and swollen, but gave up and settled for just one working eye as sunlight began to stream over the tops of the mountains in the distance.
The lich glanced over at the same mountains. 'It appears I have to leave,' he said with much disappointment. 'We'll have to continue this another time.'
The nightmare gurgled something unintelligible and received a punch to the solar plexus, which made me cough up blood and then I was dropped to the ground as the lich left the fort.
In fifteen minutes, my body, and the nightmare's use of it, had been utterly destroyed by something that couldn't even be hurt, much less killed. For the first time in a long time, I feared for my life. My final feeling as the
