"I'll probably ruin it." She dragged his eyes away from it to look at Heln. Part of her had to make sure that Heln knew.
Heln nodded. "I know. Dad can get me a new one. It's okay."
Bel nodded and walked to the doorway. She placed the pendant more or less in the center, set her fingers to it, and drew a barrier.
Chapter Eighteen
Bel leaned against the wall and stared at her barrier, even though the surface was too opaque for her to see anything that was happening beyond it.
Something smacked against it and she jumped. Script rippled across the surface, but it quieted and as far as she could tell was still strong.
The stones had stopped glowing. Two of them had shuddered, then slowly dropped to the ground with tremendous thuds, coming to rest haphazardly against the wall.
"At least we ruined the Festival for everyone next year," she joked as the one that had broken finished its descent to the ground, tumbling over to lay broken and empty on the ground. The script on the inside looked like tangled black thread.
"Oh yes, I'm feeling really good about ruining a tradition that's been in our culture for hundreds of years." Rhyss was taking the loss of her dagger pretty hard, probably harder than losing the Rising Stones, so Bel tried to not hold it against her.
Tried being the key word. "But you get it, don't you? We've been giving magic to a bunch of big crazy rocks for years, and what was it doing? Being filtered into a light construct, an impossible creation, for Eleti knows what reason. I mean, maybe she did know, maybe she set it up."
"And I'm sure it was a good reason." Rhyss didn't sound sure at all. She picked up a fragment of the broken stone, going through a few passes with it like it was more than just vaguely pointed. She seemed satisfied, at least. "How long will that barrier last?"
Another boom against it and bright light washed through for an instant.
"I don't know. I'm not connected to it," Bel admitted. "Didn't want to be knocked out when it fell."
"A few more hits." Heln said, very quietly. "Maybe only one more. It's hard to tell."
"You'd better pull your shields back up. Once it goes down we'll have to run." Bel gave Heln a worried look. He was even paler than he had been. Bel honestly didn't think that he had a run in him, no matter how short it was.
Heln nodded, and Bel hoped he'd listened to her.
"I think we'll have an easier time getting around the zombie dragon, to be honest."
"Maybe, it's a little harder to outrun fire." Rhyss stopped her pacing, finally, only to stare at the barrier.
"We've done that like, twice. I think technically three times, four for you? I dunno, but I'm really preferring our odds for the fire than the unstoppable death light."
"It wasn't that—"
The barrier was hit again and the pendant broke.
Bel got to her feet, making sure Heln was next to her. They were both getting out even if she had to carry Heln down the stairs herself. The barrier itself faded enough that they could see through it. The construct crouched down in front of the light, pressing one hand that was little more than two large, flat fingers against the remains of the barrier, soaking up the magic.
The pendant shattered further, and was crushed under a large, spade-like foot.
Even with the magic it had soaked up, it was in a sad state. It had morphed into something tall and thin that was all spindly limbs. Its surface was blackened in places and it was much smaller than it had been.
It turned just as the dragon got to the top of the stairs, leaping onto its head and wrapping around it, its thin, razor tipped appendages going for the eyes. The dragon shoved its head into the room, ripping one of its horns free in the process, and slammed its head against the floor hard enough that one of the white panels cracked. The construct was fluid and snake like in an instant, sliding down the neck to wrap itself around the dragon's power core.
The last four stones fell and the room shook.
The dragon screamed. The light construct was attempting to pry the gem out of its chest. The dragon thrashed wildly, throwing itself into the walls. The pieces of the constructs still stuck in the wall shattered, one of the panels cracked all the way across its length. Rhyss barely ducked under a swing and Heln was knocked onto his back behind one of the fallen stones.
Bel never thought she would come to the defense of an undead dragon that was entirely focused on killing her, but here she was.
"Hey!" She threw the only script she could make at the thing, an illumination bubble. It hit the glass skin and was absorbed, blue flaring underneath the surface of the creature for an instant.
Distracting it just enough that the dragon slammed its own power core hard against the floor. The stone buckled under the impact. The dragon twisted its neck around at an impossible angle, sinking its teeth into the construct with a horrible crunching sound like a giant bug being crushed.
Green glass spikes shoved through the dragon's skull, destroying one eye completely. The light construct whipped away from the dragon, making its first noise, a high-pitched whine. It was losing substance through a row of wide holes that went from a shoulder to what amounted to a hip. The glowing mist dribbled onto the floor and spread around its feet. Bel could see straight through its head and upper body like it was an empty bottle. There was a disc about the size of her hand made of the same material as its skin where its heart would be, distorted by the curve of
