Next, Loni put Gem. He felt, if nothing else, the women would escape with some of the children. He sent Da next.
Da was having a hard time, with two little boys, who had come awake, and were squirming in his arms. He inched upward slowly, Loni following behind.
****
Lydia made the mistake of looking back. There, silently hovering above Da was a creature out of a nightmare. Snake-like, with many a long slender neck, dripping jaws, and frightful red eyes, the many headed creature wove to and fro, just waiting a chance to grab a small morsel from an inattentive adult rescuer.
Lydia screamed, loud and long...and let go of the small boy in her arms.
Below her, Gem looked up toward the sound, noticed the falling infant...and then, the Hydra.
She was quick, but not as swift as the beast. One snake-like head, on a long skinny neck, reached out. The jaws opened, and deftly caught the infant in freefall, but...it only snared the edge of the blanket wrapped around him, not any part of the actual child, and so...he hung there in mid air, suspended, waiting...to drop, again.
A red beam of light shot out from Gem's eyes. Like an errant laser, it sought its mark. When it found the throat, like a sharp knife, it cut away the head of the beast. But there were many other heads swaying behind the injured neck. The jaws of the severed head opened, releasing the boy, his wrap came undone. Both detached head, and naked baby went plummeting down, seemingly in slow motion.
Loni, beneath Gem, came into play. From his eyes, he shot forth a beam of blue light, toward the falling infant. Surrounded in blue haze, its fall stopped; for a second, he remained suspended, then slowly floated toward Loni's arms. The two year old already there, opened his arms, as if he knew exactly what the adults meant to accomplish. He caught the smaller boy, and held tight.
"Move Da!" Loni shouted to Da mentally. And the others, also, heard the thought command. "Get to the top, before someone else is taken! We can't fight it continually."
Moaning, her screams silenced, Lydia started to obey; Gem hesitating a mere second before following. Both Da, and Loni were too exposed. She didn't want to leave them unprotected.
And the Hydra wasn't finished. It was both angry, and cheated of a meal.
As Lydia made it over the top ridge, the beast struck again.
Da was the target, and this time, the monster dove for his legs. The two wriggling infants in his arms made the rising difficult. One skinny neck moved past his face, but it was merely to distract. A second head swept across his knees, and suddenly, Da hung there, one arm clinging to the ladder rung, the other trying to hold both the squirming boys. Da felt nothing...but, from the knees down, his feet were already missing.
He couldn't go up or down; one effort to grab the next rung, and all would fall.
Gem had gained the top of the ladder, but there was no lightening her load. She still had the sack of supplies at her back. She carefully lay the tiny black infant, from her arms, on the rock shelf, and rolled him toward Lydia. The woman quickly caught up the child, and cuddled him close.
But Gem still carried her own infant in the snuggly, which was not easily unfastened. Gem decided to keep it so, and peering over the edge, lying on her side, she did her best to help those below.
Da's grip was slackening; his strength giving way. From his extremities, he was bleeding profusely, and beginning to feel the pain. The Hydra had backed off to swallow the tidbit it had acquired.
Gem knew there was no hope for Da; he was as good as dead. Her beam shot out again, but this time in blue. From Da's arm, she snatched the first dark haired infant, levitating him upward toward her. And as she was occupied, the Hydra returned.
****
Loni was certain he had no future; with what was happening above him, he was powerless to help. Da was already lifeless; the second child would go with him, unless...
Loni's arms were full; he was loaded with full backpacks, front and back; couldn't even slip them off. His energy was fading, as well.
Loni rolled to the side, the children in his arms against the rock. He shot a red beam to the eyes of the nearest snake head, hoping merely to distract. He could do little more. And as Da fell past him, Loni switched to the blue levitation beam, encompassing the last infant in Da's arm. Just at that moment, the Hydra dropped to dive for the body of Da.
The second dark haired boy hung suspended, but Loni's energy quickly gave out. Regretfully, the man let the child go, and it fell, slowly revolving, over and over, as it plunged into the chasm below. Loni moaned aloud at the loss, but he had no more mental energy; he couldn't have held him, and levitated him to Gem...and she was busy saving the other.
He looked up, and saw, all the rest were safe.
****
Just as Loni made it over the top of the ladder on to the ridge, off in the distance, a loud detonation shook the ground. As he lay there, gasping for breath, exhausted, trying to puzzle out the cause for the noise, a second blast rent the air, causing the earth beneath his feet to shiver and shake; rocks to tumble; the whole ledge to move.
Horrified, Loni realized what was happening.
"We have to get off of here," he projected in panic
