Ice Phoenix (27 page)

"Now I know why the queen's faar is running towards us," said Quempa, once he got his breath back. "Nashim's figured out how to activate the pendant."

Baneyon shouted across to the prince. "Your Majesty! Lorn! Get on the faar now! You and Terrana are leaving."

"If we leave now, Nisa won't make it out of there," the prince said angrily. "She needs Dragoth and Eindz."

"Regardless, Baneyon is right," Quempa said. "Your Majesty, it's for your own good. Once those dratkaars arrive, we won't be able to protect you."

"You don't understand," said the prince. He looked at Lady Anrath. "Tell them." All eyes fell on the tall, dark warrior woman standing beside her faar.

"The faars won't abandon their own," she said. "Nothing we say will change that fact."

Baneyon paled. Because he was holding her close, Terrana could feel him shaking with anger. "Do you mean to say,
Your Majesty
, you brought Terrana to this planet, fully realising that this could happen and she would be trapped here?"

"I brought her here because she wished to save you," replied the prince.
"As I wish to save my mother!"

Baneyon looked as if he wanted to deliver the prince a good thrashing, but Lorn interrupted once more. "Something's happening!" he shouted, pointing to the sky through the translucent shield. "There's a tear in the atmosphere!"

He was right. A vortex roughly four metres in radius had appeared and was sucking everything up into the sky.

"That looks nasty!" Raimus's eyes were fixed on the vortex. "We need to leave before we get pulled into that."

Baneyon turned to Lady Anrath. "The children need to leave now! Do whatever you must to get the faars to obey you."

The smooth features of Lady Anrath wrinkled slightly, and for the first time Baneyon thought her eyes reflected something other than aloofness. Regret, perhaps.

"It is too late, Baneyon. Nisa has called." The words barely left Lady Anrath's mouth when the faars bolted. The ground trembled as they charged towards the cliff, and everyone flung themselves out of the way. The two faars sailed into the air, breaking through the shield, and glided down towards the plains. Behind them, the shield sealed itself. 

"This is madness!" cried Quempa, scrambling to his feet. "Perhaps Nisa will heal in their presence, but that is not just a few dratkaars after her. That's half the dratkaar population! They will drain the faars' qi even before they land!"

"What if they didn't have to land?" Lorn said suddenly. "What if we could clear a path for Nisa from over here?"

"What are you talking about?" barked Raimus. "Weaving has no effect on the dratkaars, and right now they are too far away for us to do anything effective. They need to be closer, and by then it could be too late!"

"The grandmaster and Kuldor will arrive in a few hours. We just have to hold out until then," said Lady Anrath.

"Didn't you hear me, Lady Anrath? Nashim's activated the pendant! Can't you feel it?
The dark qi in the air? Something unnatural and evil is happening!" shouted Raimus.

While the adults argued, Lorn removed his jacket to reveal the strange panelling around his arm. He touched one of the panels and they began to unfold, reconstructing into a large crossbow. It must have been about a metre wide and heavy to boot, and yet Lorn managed it like a pro.

Three dark capsules floated out of his jacket, which was still lying on the ground. Each capsule was no larger than his palm. He plucked one and snapped it into place on his crossbow. He focused on Nisa's position, noting that Dragoth and Eindz had almost reached her. 

The adults stopped arguing as soon as they noticed the large crossbow. Raimus's eyes widened. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Please clear an area in the shield in front of me!" Lorn shouted to Baneyon. Baneyon quickly obliged. "Done," he called out.

Lorn didn't hesitate. He focused on coordinates close to the faars and fired. All eyes were on the capsule as it shot towards the dratkaars. Lorn reloaded. The area left of Nisa exploded, and dratkaars went flying. Nisa pulled away slightly. Lorn fired the second capsule, clearing the area to Nisa's right. Nisa surged ahead.

"That's a modified zipper, boy," said Raimus, giving Lorn a piercing glance. "How did you come to have one?"

"PT class," Lorn answered quickly. "The capsules are my own creation — they contain a compound that, when combined with carbon-
dioxide, reacts violently and causes an explosion."

"Kuldor would just love you," muttered Raimus. "Keep firing, boy, and I won't inform your headmistress that you've been breaking the school rules. How many capsules do you have?"

"Six."

"Then make them count."

"Nisa is lifting off the ground and joining the other two faars!" Quempa said excitedly. "Now's our chance to catch them in the air and get the children out of here."

"Then what are we waiting for?
Move!" Baneyon barked, keeping a firm hold on Terrana. Without hesitating, he stepped off the cliff and began flying towards the faars. Everyone else followed, carrying the wounded.

As they flew towards the faars, Baneyon continued to contain the air around them. The vortex had widened, and it had expanded its reach to draw in the dratkaars. The hell hounds yelped as they were lifted into the air and dragged towards the hole.

The wind blasted past Baneyon's shield, and he fought to keep everyone safely cocooned inside. The faars had spotted them and were flying in their direction, beating their wings hard as they struggled against the pull of the vortex. The two groups finally met, and Baneyon expanded his shield to include the faars. However, before anyone could approach the faars, a dark figure tumbled out of the sky, breaking through the shield to land on all fours on Nisa's back.

"Demon!"
Lorn swung his crossbow around to fire at the creature.

"Easy there now!" said Raimus, waving the crossbow aside. "That's the queen you're looking at!"

Lorn's eyes widened and his mouth fell open as he stared at the queen. Terrana's reaction was the same. The woman they were looking at was more of a reptile, instead of warm flesh and blood. The queen was covered entirely in black scales. In each hand was a long, bloody sword. Her frightening eyes flickered over Terrana briefly, and then came to rest on her son.

Disappointment clearly rippled across her features, made all the worse when she said to the prince, "You have disappointed me." Then, without losing a beat, she turned to the others. "You've already worked out that Nashim activated the pendant. He is going to use it to destroy this planet."

"Then we must stop him!" Quempa said. "He must not be allowed to leave Si Ren Da with the pendant."

The queen nodded. "He cannot die. I've thrice removed his head, but he uses the pendant's qi to regenerate himself. It will take all of us to defeat him and the lightning demon."

"That's your cue to leave," Baneyon said to Terrana. He sidled up to Dragoth and plonked her rather unceremoniously onto the faar. But, as he pulled away, Terrana grabbed his hand.

"You can't stay!" she cried, her eyes brimming with fear. "Baneyon, please, you can't stay." Her eyes pleaded with his, willing him to listen. She could feel it in her bones, something calamitous was going to happen.

"You need to keep quiet and leave," Baneyon said abruptly, pulling his hand away. The queen must have seconded that thought because she waved her hand, and both Prince Gil Ra Im and Lorn were pulled through the air only to find themselves suddenly seated behind Terrana.

Gut wrenching cries tore through the sky, sending chills down everyone's spines. Each cry was more gruesome than the last, and they all looked
towards the vortex. Blood rained down, along with the divided bodies of the dratkaars.

"Dartkala," Raimus said hoarsely. "Something's coming through that hole!"

"Leave
now
!" Baneyon shouted, hitting Dragoth on the rump as he struggled to conceal his own fear. He created an opening in the shield and the big faar took off, beating his wings furiously as he attempted to gain enough speed to leave the atmosphere. His transformation was beginning, and silver light brushed his wings. They had almost made it to the outer edge of the troposphere when something large and powerful slammed into them. Dragoth shrieked. Terrana, Lorn, and the prince were thrown off from the impact, spinning away in different directions.

Terrana screamed as she hurtled through the sky alone, her limbs flailing wildly as she fought to steady herself. Even as she fell, she searched desperately for Dragoth, hoping he had reunited with the prince and Lorn and they would rescue her. She panicked when she couldn't see any sign of them. Terrana was really afraid now — where were they?

"Terrana!"

Terrana almost cried when she felt Baneyon's powerful arms wrap around her, pulling her into his chest. His familiar strength was nothing short of a safe haven and she raised her head to stare up at him. But the first thing she saw when she looked past his shoulder was a dead face, grinning wildly. With a start, she realised it was the same creature that had collided with Dragoth. Its head lolled to one side, as though it had been stitched back to its neck loosely.

"
Baneyon, behind you
!" she screamed. But her warning came too late. There was a horrible squelching sound as a claw perforated Baneyon's stomach, coming in through his back. Baneyon cried out and Terrana watched in stupefied horror as the claw retracted and disappeared. The dark figure fell away from behind Baneyon and flipped into the wind, flying over Terrana.

Struggling to suppress her panic, she reached out and nudged Baneyon's head gently. They were falling slowly as Baneyon struggled to keep them aloft.
"Baneyon?" Her voice was barely above a whisper as fear clogged her throat. "Say something, please."

No answer. She could see his blood everywhere, staining his clothes. She felt its warmth on her hands. It was even on her face. "Baneyon, don't hold us up anymore," she cried softly. "Dragoth will come for us. He'll catch us, so please, let go." Her tears fell, plopping quietly on his shoulder. She wondered where everyone was. She wondered why they weren't coming to help. She couldn't see anyone.

"
Someone help!"
she screamed. "
Baneyon's hurt!
"

But no one came to their rescue. Instead, the creature flew over her once more, and Terrana got a better look at it. With a start, she realised it was a dead demon. Darkness flowed from him, and Terrana could tell that he was being controlled by dark, unnatural qi. His head wobbled back and forth, and his tongue hung loosely down his chin.

Another demon dropped from the sky to join the first one. Garok grinned as he watched Baneyon continue to hold onto the young girl. Unlike the dead Eera who hovered next to him, Garok looked very much alive.

Terrana could hear the blood pounding in her head as she shook Baneyon. "Baneyon, stop weaving!" she cried. "Let us fall!"

Baneyon groaned and did something unexpected. Moving quickly so that Terrana wouldn't suspect, he ripped her from his chest suddenly, and sent her spinning into the sky.

"
What are you doing?"
she screamed, trying to claw her way back to him. "
You can't fight like that!
You've lost too much qi
!" Her voice was cut off as Baneyon wove a shield to protect her.

"
Baneyon!"
Terrana screamed his name over and over again, but he didn't hear her. She didn't know whether he could.

Eera raced towards Baneyon, and the Imeldor swung his spear at him. The blade cut through
Eera's neck and the demon's head went flying. Baneyon watched in disbelief as the head returned and reattached to Eera's body. Next, Garok flew towards him and snatched the phoenix spear from his bloody hand. Baneyon found himself staring into Garok's smirking face.

"Boo! Bet you thought I died, didn't you? I almost did because of your blade, but you forgot one thing — I can
mindslip
. When you believed I was dead, I had already slipped into your mind. My death was an illusion. I knew I couldn't defeat you while you had the phoenix blade, and so I created a clone instead.
You killed my clone
, Baneyon. But Eera here, the queen really killed him. Nashim could only stuff his body with dark qi to create this monster instead."

Garok leered over him, watching as the light faded from Baneyon's eyes. Satisfied that the Imeldor could not fight back, he moved aside to let Eera finish his work.

Baneyon didn't hear Terrana screaming as Eera ripped his abdomen open. He didn't see the tears running down her face as she watched him fall away from her. His senses had shut down, but he could still access his most cherished memories. He remembered her smile, the way her eyes lit up when she saw new clothes, her scowl when she didn't get her way, and the amazing strength that allowed her to carve a new life for herself in an alien world.

You were the best thing that ever happened to me, Terrana. So please, live.

The rest of the team, as well as Lorn and the prince, looked on in horror as Baneyon plummeted. They were two hundred metres in the air, and even though they could hear Terrana's heartbreaking screams, they could not break through the strange translucent barrier the demons had created to separate them from Baneyon and Terrana.

The barrier was cylindrical, with an approximate radius of twenty metres and, so far, it was proving to be impenetrable. The moment anyone got too near to it, it drained their qi. The Imeldors could only look on hopelessly as the abomination that was Eera tore Baneyon apart.

Scrambling around like a wild animal desperate to save his friend, Quempa flew to the ground and began burrowing, hoping the barrier would not extend too deep.

"Quempa!
No!" Raimus shouted out in alarm. He flew after Quempa, who had already disappeared below ground. When Raimus managed to reach the entrance of the tunnel that Quempa had burrowed, he spotted the little Imeldor lying unconscious about thirty metres down. It took Raimus nearly everything he had to draw Quempa from where he lay without killing himself in the process. He carried Quempa back into the air, so he could avoid the hell dogs on the ground.

Lady Fless flew to his side. Panic furrowed her face. "We're running out of time! Without Baneyon, we can't contain the air for much longer," she said.

"I agree," Raimus grunted. Every one of them was struggling to breathe. He pointed to the vortex above. "I give that ten minutes before it tears up everything within a thirty-kilometre radius. We must leave this planet now."

"But what about Terrana?"
Lorn cried. He had been injured in the attack when Eera had crashed into them and sent them toppling off Dragoth's back. There was a nasty gash on his leg. The prince was holding him up, and Lorn actually owed him his life. Prince Gil Ra Im had pulled him out of Eera's path and had carried him to a safe distance before the barrier had come up.

"Her Highness has summoned the faars and they are fighting the demons now. While they are buying time for us, we need to leave," said Raimus.

"But we can't leave Terrana behind!" Lorn shouted.

"We don't have a choice!" said Lady Fless. "We need to —" Something grabbed her from behind and flung her into the barrier. She twitched like a worm on a hook as the barrier drained her.

Garok hovered in front of them. "No one is going anywhere," he sneered.

Lady Anrath dashed to help Lady Fless, and as Garok tried to stop her, Raimus and L-Master Ana attacked the demon together. Mud materialised around Garok and the demon suddenly found
himself trapped in a coffin, woven by Raimus. The mud transformed into granite. L-Master Ana lunged forwards. She had barely laid a hand on the coffin when it exploded, and Garok burst out. With a snarl, he sprang at Raimus, who was too slow to react. Garok thrust his hand into Raimus's chest, ripping out his heart. Raimus fell backwards and hurtled to the ground, still holding onto Quempa.

"Raimus!"
L-Master Ana shouted, as she watched Raimus fall. She tried to go after him, but she didn't get very far.

"Ana, watch out!" screamed Lady Anrath. L-Master Ana's concern for her comrade proved to be a costly mistake. She spun around, only to find Garok swinging the phoenix spear at her. She still wore a surprised look on her face when her head toppled forwards. It was picked up by the vortex in the sky. The rest of her headless body followed after Raimus.

Garok laughed loudly and looked towards Lorn, the prince, and Lady Anrath. Lady Anrath had succeeded in rescuing Lady Fless, and she now carried her, as well as L-Master Kalum over her shoulders. Both her comrades were comatose, and Lady Anrath willed them to live as she shrugged them off her shoulders and sent them towards the prince. The powerful warrior then flew towards Garok, placing herself between the boys and the demon.

"Get away from here, Your Majesty," she called out over her shoulder.

Garok's eyes widened. "Your Majesty?" He stared curiously at the prince, and then laughed excitedly. "What a fantastic surprise! Who'd have thought the queen would have brought her own son to this planet?"

Lady Anrath clenched her fists. "You need to shut up and die," she growled. She leapt towards him without any warning, and smashed her fist into his face. Garok staggered back. Lady Anrath pulled him forwards and slammed her knee directly into his solar plexus. But the demon's armour prevented her from delivering any serious damage, and Garok quickly recovered, moving away from her.

He swung the phoenix spear at Lady Anrath. She leapt over it. Garok kicked her, and his foot connected with her stomach. Lady Anrath fell backwards, and she watched as Garok brought the spear down on her. Nothing short of a miracle would have saved her and, luckily for her, it appeared.

Eindz, Lady Anrath's faar, materialised above Garok. His powerful jaws clamped around the demon's shoulder and shook him from side to side. An ordinary person would have been torn to pieces, but Garok was too wiry, and he managed to break free of the faar. Sensing the change in power, Garok acted quickly and shot straight towards the prince.

He came up behind the prince, twisting both his arms behind his back. The prince cried out and dropped his charges, who floated freely beside him.

"
Your Majesty!" Lady Anrath cried out, fearful for the prince's safety.

"Stay back!" Garok warned. Then, he turned his face to the sky and shouted. "
Queen Julere, I have your son! Surrender if you wish him to live
!"

Silence surrounded them.

Even the vortex seemed to pause for a moment to observe what was going on below. Five figures descended from the sky and the queen was soon face to face with Garok. She was holding onto her two swords. Dragoth and Nisa hovered behind her. Lady Anrath, dragging the unconscious Lady Fless and L-Master Kalum, joined the queen with Lorn and Eindz. On Garok's side, Nashim and Meldogan appeared. The two groups faced each other in an uneasy truce.

The queen spoke. "Let me guess. You want me to return the pendant that I just stole from your worthless leader in exchange for my son's life?"

"Do not mock us, ice queen," snarled Nashim. "The pendant is worthless in your hands. You can't deactivate it because it was I who activated it in the first place, therefore, it will only respond to me."

"Hand the pendant over!" Garok twisted the prince's arm and everyone heard it dislocate. Prince Gil Ra Im grunted in pain.

"Don't give him the pendant, Mother! Destroy it!" He yelled horribly as Garok dislocated his other arm.

"Prince!"
Lorn sent a pleading look towards the queen. He couldn't understand why she was just floating there, her face devoid of any emotion.

"The pendant or your son!" shouted Garok. "Which is it,
ice queen
?"

Queen Julere did not utter a word. Instead, she licked her lips as her eyes travelled over the three demons, noting their weapons and their increased qi levels. Her indifference to her son's plight made the demons nervous. "He is not my son if he is unable to kill any of you," she said finally.

Her words stunned them all. Lorn couldn't believe what he was hearing. How could she be so cruel to her own son? How could she really be willing to risk his life for the pendant? He clenched his fists in anger.

"You mock us once more," snarled Nashim. "Very well, watch as your son dies.
Garok!"

Garok moved to snap the prince's neck, but it was like stone. Confused, Garok spun the boy around. "What's going on here?" he asked, frowning. He hissed and stepped back at the sight of a cruel, reptilian face staring back at him. Prince Gil Ra Im was covered in scales.

The queen inclined her head. "Like mother, like child," she said coolly, "and if necessary, my will is his will."

"Impossible," hissed Nashim, his eyes widening in horror. "
Get away from him, Garok!
She's channelling her qi through him!" But his warning came too late. The prince moved so quickly that Garok didn't even have time to blink.

Queen Julere thrust her hand upwards, and the prince did the same as she controlled him. His arm popped back into place and his scaled hand
plunged into Garok's neck. It continued upwards, ripping through his brain. Garok collapsed, and the phoenix spear fell from his hand. Queen Julere lunged forwards and snatched it. Then, she dragged her son away from Garok and swung the spear around. It cut Garok cleanly through one arm and exited through the other. He split into four pieces.

"
Garok
!" shouted Meldogan. He shot the queen a look of pure hatred and moved to attack her, but Nashim restrained him.

"Stay back, Meldogan!" warned Nashim. "That blade's forged from velassium. If she cuts your head off, you'll really die."

The queen threw both her son and Lorn onto Dragoth. "Get out of here," she ordered.

Dragoth snorted and flew off with the boys. Without hesitating, the queen advanced on Meldogan. Lightning struck her, but she deflected it with the spear. She was nothing less than godly as she channelled the terrifying power of lightning back towards Meldogan. The demon was forced to leap out of the way, playing into the queen's trap. She moved with incredible speed and grasped Meldogan around the neck. Her fingers sunk into his flesh, and Meldogan roared in pain.

"Meldogan!" cried Nashim. He leapt forwards, attacking the queen with black flames, but they splashed harmlessly against the phoenix blade. With the blade, the queen appeared invincible, and she did more with it than Baneyon ever could. Nashim's attacks could not reach her.

The queen somersaulted towards Nashim, dragging Meldogan with her. She landed on his shoulders, catching his head between her thighs. With a violent twist, she snapped his neck. But Nashim did not die. The pendant's power continued to keep him alive, and he began healing immediately. However, while he healed, he was unable to move. The queen jumped off, leaving Meldogan with him.

"Die," she said, swinging the phoenix spear around with both hands.

She could have ended it.

The spear would have finished both their lives, and they would have been no more, but it never reached them. Instead, the queen stumbled forwards and the demons looked on in disbelief as they spied the bleeding hole in her stomach. She coughed and blood sprayed from her mouth. As she swayed from side to side, struggling to remain in the air, a small person lowered itself in front of her.

The queen found herself staring into a pair of black, malicious eyes. Terrana leaned forwards, her face barely centimetres from the queen's, and pulled the phoenix spear from her hand.

"This doesn't belong to you," snarled Terrana, grasping the spear with a bloodied hand — the same hand she had used to punch a hole in the queen's stomach. Those were the last words the queen heard before Terrana plunged the spear into her. The queen dropped from the sky.

Nashim flew after the queen, but Terrana paid no attention to him. She didn't care that he was going after the pendant. Everyone reeked of the pendant's dark qi, and that was enough reason for her to kill all of them. A
cognisant part of her still remembered how Baneyon had died, and that whatever had torn him apart had been steeped in dark qi.

Terrana opened her mouth and screamed. The barrier behind her shattered and even the vortex in the sky disappeared. Blue flames erupted around her.
Whatever human aspect she had possessed had long vanished — there was not a single trace of the little Fijian girl from Sector Thirteen when she attacked the demons.