But the trogloraptor’s renewed purpose had brought it around to the wrong side of the caldera. The trebuchet would not be ready in time to launch before the arachnid was out of range.
Then something glinted down below, and I silently rejoiced. The trogloraptor was so focused on escaping it didn’t notice Longshank step out from the shelter of a ruined building until the hunter buried his spear in the creature’s leg.
Unlike the obsidian speartips of Ris’kin’s weapons, Longshank’s crystal spear pierced spiny hairs and exoskeleton alike, plunging into the trogloraptor’s leg like a crossbow bolt through a watermelon. It shrieked and stumbled, but the will that drove it forced it onward, more slowly but still just as steady. Longshank was dragged along behind it. He refused to relinquish his shiny new spear, and was attempting to work it free even as his mismatched armor of mole-rat hide and snakeskin scraped across the rubbled ground.
Why won’t you stop? I cursed the trogloraptor. Stop, damn it!
Ris’kin drove her spear into the creature again and again, hoping the assault would at least make it lose its hold on my Core, but to no avail. Another few seconds and it would be out of the trebuchet’s range.
This is the part where Binky usually jumps in to save the day, I thought, desperately hoping the spider would miraculously make an appearance. But no. Even if Binky was still alive, it seemed he was no longer with us.
Another tent crumpled beneath the trogloraptor’s clawed feet. Beyond it, close to the trailhead where the gnomes would have made their entrance and caught their first sight of their ancestral city, the humans had pitched their tent. Past that was the trail. If the arachnid reached it, the trebuchet would be useless, and all would be lost.
The ‘raptor plowed on toward it like it was the light at the end of the tunnel. Then suddenly there was light.
Blinding illumination shone from Benin and Coll’s tent. Squinting against the sudden unexpected radiance, Ris’kin’s sharp vision picked out the silhouettes of two small figures, holding the chemsphere between them. It seemed Swift and Cheer had decided to follow us up here after all, and had immediately set about their favorite pastime of pillaging Benin’s belongings.
Unlike the illumishrooms, which the trogloraptor had barely seemed to even notice, the light from the humans’ chemsphere made it hiss and screech and veer away as though it had been hit with physical force. It recovered after a few moments, but to my relief the trebuchet crew had finally accomplished their loading and aiming and had reached the final command I’d left in the queue.
Even at this distance I heard the powerful kick of the mechanism. Still blinking away spots of light, Ris’kin and I searched the sky until we saw the projectile arcing across toward the ‘raptor.
Toward us, I realized.
We slid down to the ground, catching a few slices from razor-sharp leg hairs on the way down, then tugged Longshank away. The skynet opened up like a silky, sticky flower as it sailed downward toward the trogloraptor.
And missed.
Sixty-Five
No Time
Benin
The Marsh Zolom’s tongue flicked out from between its fangs, as though impatient to be done throttling this human so it could sooner wreak its revenge on the other two. But when Ajax sprinted forward, its head jerked in the gnome’s direction. It opened its jaws and lunged.
As dexterous as a Guild ranger, Ajax dodged and spun. The spear whirled in his hands. The Zolom’s jaws closed on empty air—
—and then stopped, held open by the spear that was now impaling the serrated roof of its mouth. The spear’s butt was wedged firmly behind the Zolom’s bottom fang, and Ajax scurried away to safety.
The Zolom hissed furiously. The spear was already starting to crack, but it didn’t need to last much longer. Benin only needed a moment, and the gnomish warrior had given him plenty. He took aim and released.
The ball of lightning shot into the snake’s open mouth a moment before the spear shaft finally splintered. Fanged jaws snapped shut around the crackling sphere and the snake swallowed on instinct. He’d tried this before, but not with Pyra’s power behind it. Hopefully the empowered spell would be enough.
Benin crossed his fingers, trying not to look at Lila’s face. Her eyes were beginning to bulge, and he was pretty sure she didn’t have much longer.
He almost cheered when the snake’s body started to convulse. It twitched and jerked as the lightning sphere forced its way through its innards. The coils around Lila loosened, the snake losing control of its own muscles, and she collapsed on top of them, gasping and convulsing almost as violently as the serpent.
He maintained a wary distance, as did Coll. As she regained her breath, the snake still twitching and jerking behind her, she stared at Benin. “Why?” she croaked.
He shrugged lamely. Then he shouted, “Look out!”
This time she didn’t scoff, but threw herself flat on the ground. The Zolom lunged past her, jaws snapping uncontrollably, coils twitching. It seemed to no longer have control of its tongue, so was striking blindly and unpredictably at everything around it.
No matter what we throw at it, it shrugs it off, he thought despairingly. Can anything we do kill it? Can it even be killed at all?
There was a yelp as its head smashed blindly into Pyra, knocking her down and momentarily stunning her. The Zolom hissed triumphantly as it located one of its prey, and reared back for another strike. Past-Benin would have screamed and thrown fire, raging pointlessly at it for daring to harm his familiar. But the new
