Chex doesn’t need to tell me to continuerunning. I keep moving but he is no longer in front of me. He isbehind me, throwing weapons at the creatures. Their deafeninghisses grow louder. The sound is so piercing I have to squeeze myhands against my ears to minimize it. When I turn to see how faraway from Chex I have gone, I can’t see him or anything else. Thelight has been defeated; all that’s left is the victoriousdarkness.
As I turn to gaze forward, I suddenly smackright into a wall of strong bones. I hit it so hard that I’m thrownbackward and only stop when I crash onto the floor. My head isspinning. I’m slightly dazed but not so much that I can’t see thatI slammed into the chest of an Olligark. It is coming for me. Iwant to gasp but I have to remind myself not to breathe. Thesockets of its eyes are fixed on me and, although the skeletal facehas no expression, it’s clear that the creature is angry aboutfinding me here.
I’m too far ahead to allow fear to be mydemise. I shake off the wooziness, rise to my feet, aim my palm atthe creature’s head, and unleash the light. It jerks its head onimpact. My power is strong enough to slow it down, but it doesn’tstop coming for me.
I aim my other palm at its chest, where theheart of any creature lives. The light blasts another hole in it,and this time it wobbles, eventually convulses until it crashesonto the floor and explodes into bone dust.
I stand stunned, hardly able to believe I,Ad’ru, just killed such a stalwart being with the power of light.But just when I thought I was out of immediate danger, here comesanother, and another. Two of them!
I’m outnumbered but there is no time to sulkabout it. I repeat what I have just done. I shoot the light intothe head and heart of one of them. As it convulses, the other oneadvances close enough to raise its arms above me. My heart sinks.It means to crush me until suddenly it jerks backwards once, thentwice, until it topples over and hits the floor so hard it shakesbeneath my feet.
I take comfort in the familiarity of thebody that’s pressing against my backside and the voice that asksdesperately, “Are you okay?”
I nod. He kisses the side of my face andturns me around to face him.
“Listen, Baby, we’re faster. We see any moreof those assholes, we don’t fight, we run right past them. Got it?Because the fighting is slowing us down and I think that’s whatthey’re here to do.”
I nod again.
We enfold our fingers and hold tightly toeach other’s hands; then we dart off. I stay by his side as we turndown more corners and dash by more creatures when needed. It feelslike it’s taking forever to reach the Scepter of Gant. But it’snear. The light is turning brighter the closer we get to it.
And then suddenly we come to an abrupt stop.There are five Olligark creatures guarding a wide entrance wherebehind them I see it. The Scepter of Gant is a long rod and it’ssuspended in mid-air.
The guards are not budging. Instead, theywatch us, dare in their hollow eyes.
“We’re here!” Na’ta shouts as she comes to astop on one side of me and Telman is on the other side of Chex. I’mgripped by relief. They’re safe.
It takes the sight of all four of us tocajole the Olligark off their posts. They shift forward, advancinglike one stealthy unit. If I weren’t so determined to reach theScepter, I would be very intimidated.
Suddenly I feel Chex’s hand against my lowerback. “See the one in the middle? Slip right between his legs,” heinstructs me.
I focus on the triangular-sized spacebetween the Olligark’s sinewy knees, which lines up with the litScepter beyond the threshold of the opening.
“And there’s about fifty more on our ass!”Telman shouts, stabbing a thumb over his shoulder. “The sun must’vealready passed on or something!”
That’s all Chex needs to hear before hestrikes. He tosses six of the metal balls Na’ta gave him. Insteadof standing here to see what happens when the balls make contact, Ishoot off toward the triangular space.
“Ad’ru!” Na’ta shrieks with fear.
She doesn’t know our plan, but it’s too lateto soothe her worry, I’m inside of the enormous, dark cubicle. Thisis strange. I can’t hear any of the fighting taking place beyondthe threshold and I welcome the silence. But I know that I must dothis quickly.
I make haste toward the long metal rod. Thefirst thing I notice is that there’s nothing fascinating about theScepter of Gant. I thought it would be adorned with diamonds orrubies or maybe pearls, but no.
But before I’m able to reach it, I’m stoppedby two strong arms that wrap around me. My head is foggy and I’mtrying to comprehend the fact that I’m being moved away from mydestination. The body that’s against me is infusing me withwarmth.
“Lario Exgesis,” I say in a strained voiceas I decide to wriggle out of his grasp.
He squeezes me tighter and throws me down onthe ground. Once I’m down he grabs me by my wrists as he layshimself on top of me with his knees squeezing my legs together sothat I cannot move.
“I can smell him all over you,” he hisseslike a serpent. He smashes his lips against mine, trying to forceme to kiss him but I turn my face.
“Get off of me!” I scream.
“Lost my advantage, I see,” he says wearinga sinister grin. “That’s too bad because I want you and that meansI’m going to have you.”
It dawns on me that the more I struggle, themore turned on he becomes. He’s hard against me.
“What do you want?” I ask in a contained,calm voice.
Lario Exgesis hesitates. “I want you to getup and take that Scepter off the stump for us.”
“What do you mean, for us?” I snap.
“You and me. I’m your bond, not that sewerdweller Chex. You want
