The Last Hunter - Collected Edition (62 page)

32

The river is a battle. We’re making ground fast. Probably too fast. Every tree and boulder carries a potential death sentence. The key is to stay in the middle, where the water was already deepest, but even here there are dangers, exhaustion being the first. Swimming in placid water can be tiring, even just treading water. I went to a summer camp once. They had a pool with a deep end. To swim in the deep end you had to pass a test—tread water with just your feet for one minute, while holding a brick.

I tried three times. I never passed.

This…is harder.

The brick has been replaced by the weight of Whipsnap around my waist. Kainda carries the weight of her stone hammer. And Em, who is the smallest of us, carries countless knives around her waist and across her chest. I’m not sure how long we’ve been swimming. It’s hard to keep track of time while trying not to be impaled, bludgeoned or drowned. But my arms are burning from the effort and I’m pretty sure my legs will turn to jelly if I try to walk. If we manage to catch up to the Clark family, I’m not sure how much use any of us are going to be.

I look at Kainda. Her brow is furrowed with determination, but her lips are shivering.

I’m about ten feet ahead of her, so when I ask, “Are you okay?” I have to shout.

She just glares back at me, not because she’s angry about what we’re doing, but because I asked the question. I’m no mind reader, but Kainda is easy to understand.

Behind Kainda, Em has the same look on her face. The look of a hunter. These two women are dangerous. If only my parents could see me now, floating down a raging river with two of the most dangerous women on Antarctica, if not the planet, racing toward an encounter with a half-human, half-demon worshiped as a god in the ancient world. I’m not sure they would call me ‘Schwartz’ anymore. Doesn’t quite fit like it used to.

A spear of brown moving behind Em catches my attention. It’s a large tree trunk and it actually looks like it was logged—no roots, no branches—rather than pulled over by the flooded river. Why the Nephilim would be cutting down trees, I have no idea. Nor do I care. I’m more focused on the respite the twenty-foot hunk of wood promises.

I point toward the approaching tree trunk. “Grab hold of it!”

Both women look at me like I better not be thinking they need a rest, which I’m sure they do, so I come up with another reason. “It’s streamlined. Moving faster than us. We’ll make better time.”

This seems to make sense to Kainda and Em, or at least provides an acceptable excuse, and when the log catches up, they both grab hold. The log pulls them closer to me and I grab hold too, careful not to pull too hard and roll it. Kainda is on the other side of the log. Em is to my right. No one says a word. Hunters or not, they’re exhausted. We hold on and let the river take us.

But it’s not long before the river slows and widens. “We’re nearing the lake,” I say.

“Do you see them?” Em asks.

I can’t see anything with my head just above water. “We need to get to shore.” I push off the log and my body groans as I begin to swim. Em and Kainda follow without complaint, but none of us are moving too quickly. The river merges with the jungle. Where once there was a shoreline, there is now an endless pool of foot-deep water.

Reaching the shallows of the jungle, I get my feet beneath me and stand.

And then fall.

My legs are all but useless.

Thinking of Mira, I pull myself up again, using a tree for support.

“I don’t think we’re far from the lake,” Em says. She’s leaning against a tree, too. “I recognize the trees here.”

Kainda stands behind her, relying on just her legs to hold her up. I suspect the strength that holds her up has more to do with internal fortitude than the power of her muscles. “It’s not far,” she confirms, pointing down river. The canopy stretches for perhaps two hundred feet, casting the flooded jungle in shade. Beyond that, I see slivers of blue light where the tree line ends and the lake begins.

I take a furtive step and my leg wobbles. But I stay up. I yank Whipsnap from my belt and place the heavy mace end in the water, using it to support my weight as I’ve done before.

“Lead the way, old man,” Kainda says.

I’m too tired and focused on the Clarks to offer some kind of retort, so I just set out for the lake, moving as quickly as I can without collapsing. Our approach is clumsy and loud as we splash through the floodwaters. But I suspect time is short. Fifty feet from the lake’s edge, I’m moving at a fast hobble. I hear voices in the distance. Shouts.

A shadow flickers over the canopy. No! I’m too late!

I try to run, but fall, landing in the shallow water.

Kainda grabs my arm and yanks me up. We keep moving.

There’s an explosion, muffled by water. I move faster. The blinding shimmer of sunlight on water is just ahead.

In the distance, Enki’s deep voice is speaking.

I slash at some branches blocking our path and then lunge through, reaching the lake’s edge. I see the boat, far out in the lake, but no movement on board. But the boat holds my attention for just a moment. Between the shore and the boat, fifty feet above the water, is Enki. His bat-like wings beat at the air, keeping him aloft. And his long, scorpion tail twitches back and forth like an angry cat’s. His head hair, which isn’t covered by any kind of helmet, billows in the wind. He looks huge, and frightening, and he’s dressed for war in ornate metal armor. What human military force could face down a monster like Enki, let alone an army of them, and not simply run in fear?

An army of hunters
, I think. But then I see Mira, clutched in his hands. She’s speaking to him. Her words are lost over the distance, but the tone is angry and defiant. She has grown into a strong woman. Like Em. Like Kainda. But in the hands of a Nephilim like Enki, her defiance will soon be crushed out of her.

I fill my lungs to scream, hoping to pull Enki’s attention away from Mira.

But then the giant flinches.

Mira falls from Enki’s grasp as he paws at his breastplate.

What’s happening?

“Mira!” I shout, but my voice is drowned out by a thunderous explosion.

Enki’s body bursts from the inside out. Purple blood and guts shoot out of his exposed back. One of his wings tears free and the other dangles from the one remaining shoulder. His torso bursts and his head sails away in chunks. The breastplate that had been covering his chest shoots away so fast that I think I understand what happened. While Enki held her, she must have placed an explosive between his chest and breastplate. The force of the explosion, confined between the hard metal and his softer body, took the path of least resistance and tore him to pieces.

Mira killed Enki!

My surprise and pride are short-lived because it seems she also killed herself. The fifty-foot drop alone would hurt, but the force of the explosion adds some kick to her fall and she’s propelled into the water. The remains of Enki’s massive body crashes into the lake beside her with an explosion of white foam that hides Mira’s landing site.

I yell her name again and wade deeper into the lake.

A tight grip on my arm stops me. It’s Kainda. “Let me go!” I shout.

“You can’t make it,” Em says, backing up Kainda’s silent, but forceful protest. “You’re too weak and she’s too far.”

“She was…admirable,” Kainda says. “But her fate is sealed.”

“No!” I shout, yanking away. I push deeper into the water, but my legs falter and I fall to my knees. They’re right. I can’t save her. After all this time, Mira returned to Antarktos, and I couldn’t get to her in time. I couldn’t save her. “NO!”

I pound my fists on the water, taking my anger out. As I bring my fists up again, a ripple in the lake catches my attention. A gray dog-like face surfaces. Gloop! I slide in deeper and the seal swims up to me. I look into his big black eyes. “Go get her. Do you understand? Go! Save her!” I motion my hands to where Mira fell. “Go!”

And he does. The seal spins around, moving through the water like a missile. He cruises out into the deep water, leaping occasionally, and then he disappears beneath the surface. I stand waist deep in the water, dripping wet, breathing hard, waiting and watching.

“Solomon,” Em says, sounding defeated.

“He can do it,” I say, clinging to hope.

Nearly a minute passes.

Kainda places a hand on my arm, gently this time.

“He knows what he’s doing,” I say. “He saved me. He—”

The water far out on the lake, where Mira fell, ripples. A body rises, identifiable by the dark skin and hair as blond as mine. Mira. Gloop’s body rises beneath hers like a living floatation device. The pod of seals rises with him, like escorts.

“They did it,” Kainda whispers.

I look at her and say, “Never give up hope.”

In response, she takes my hand, lacing our fingers together, and squeezes.

“Where are they taking her?” Em asks as the seals head further into the lake.

At first, I’m confused. I had assumed Gloop would bring her to me. But they’re definitely heading away. Then I see the boat far in the distance. The seals are following the boat. “They’re taking her home,” I say. “To her family.”

As I watch Mira fade into the distance with the seals, Kainda says, “Do you want to go with them? To your home? Your family?”

She’s right, I know. If I caught up with the boat, I could be reunited with the Clarks. And they could probably get me back to the United States. But my home in Maine is now the North Pole and it’s likely frozen over. And my parents could be dead. But even if none of that were true, my answer would remain the same.

“No,” I say, looking at Kainda. “I
am
home.” I look at Em. “I
am
with family.”

I see flashes of uncommon emotion on both hunters’ faces, but the expressions are erased by the sound of running feet splashing through water. We turn to face the threat. The hunter known as Tunis, who first put his trust in me, who Em claimed was one of their best, emerges from the jungle. He is weaponless and covered with long, bleeding slices—the kind made by a sword. Kainda catches the man by his shoulders.

“Tunis!”

He shouts in surprise, but then sees the three of us and looks relieved.

“Tunis,” Em says. “What happened? Where is Luca?”

“Luca is safe. Underground with Adoni. And the others,” Tunis says, his voice shaking. “I stayed behind with Marko, Selize and Annon to make sure they weren’t followed.”

“Where are the others?” Kainda asked.

“He found us,” Tunis said.

“Who found you?” I ask, fearing the answer.

Tunis turns his nose to the air and sniffs. “He’s here. He’s here now!”

Tightening my grip on Whipsnap, I say, “
Who
is here?”

His eyes are wide. His arms shake. “Ninnis,” he says. “Ninnis is here!”

33

A flock of birds shoots from the trees behind us, rising into the sky like a fast moving cloud. Pain grips my eyes as I look up into the bright blue sky. I squint as something moves across the sun. A splash spins me around toward the lake. I see nothing but a few ripples of water. Did he throw something? Is he trying to distract us?

The four of us stand back to back. I quickly hand Tunis the knife he’d previously held to my throat. It isn’t much, but it’s something. Em hands him a second, the big knife she took from the dead British soldier’s body.

“The others that stayed behind with me are dead,” Tunis says quickly. “He killed them all. In seconds.”

Ninnis is a skilled hunter, perhaps the most skilled hunter. But killing three hunters in just a few seconds doesn’t seem possible, even for him. At least, I hope it’s not.

Em, Kainda and I stay quiet, weapons ready. This would be a difficult fight on our best day, but right now, we’re exhausted and in no shape to do battle. But we do our best to look strong and not appear weak.

“He’s not human,” Tunis says. “He’s—”

“Quiet,” Kainda hisses.

Tunis falls silent, but I can still hear his shaky breathing, and I’d almost prefer he kept talking. It takes a lot to rattle a hunter like Tunis, and he seems petrified.

The seconds wear on.

I jump back as something rises from the water. It’s the shape of a man. Scraggly deep red hair. The thin, sinewy body of a strong old man. He shakes his head like a dog, clearing the water from his face.

Then he stops with a quick intake of air. His eyes locked on me.

Ninnis.

His eyes widen for just a moment, but I can see that he had no idea I was here.

“Ull,” he says, his voice lacking the menace I expected. “You… How?”

“You know how, Nephil,” I say, addressing the spirit I believe is controlling him.

Ninnis grins his nearly toothless grin. “As with you, Solomon, our Lord Nephil, found my will too strong to control. It is
I
who controls him.”

The idea is so ridiculous that I can’t imagine any reason why Nephil would make such a claim. “Then set him free,” I say. “You can end all of this. Right now.”

“I might not give Nephil my body, but I still serve the will of the Nephilim,” he says. His body shakes for a moment, like there is something inside, trying to escape, but he grits his teeth and contains it. “Lord Nephil wants you back. But that is no longer possible. It is
I
who now leads the Nephilim out into the world. And it is I who will be remembered for ending the days of men. But you will be a distraction for Nephil. I will, of course, have to kill you, as I should have before you… How
did
you escape Tartarus?” His eyes drift to my hair. I think he’s just now noticed it. For a moment he seems stunned, which is understandable. To a hunter, my purified hair is an impossibility. “How did you…?”

“My burden was lifted,” I say. “Cronus showed me how.”

Mentioning Cronus’s name brings a physical reaction to Ninnis’s face. He shouts in pain and something writhes beneath his skin. He shouts angrily and regains control.

Kainda nearly moves in to strike, but Em stops her.

Ninnis sneers at Kainda. “Come, traitorous daughter! I will gladly strike you down first!” But he doesn’t move and Kainda remains still with Em’s help.

“Go now,” I say to Ninnis. “Take Nephil back to Tartarus and be free of him forever. Be free of everything. All of the darkness and—”

Ninnis laughs. “More of your forgiveness? Your mercy? It is your weakness.”

“It is my strength,” I say.

“You are to be pitied.”

“I am stronger than you.” He understands that I am not speaking about physical strength. He knows me well enough to comprehend what I’m saying.

“You know nothing of true strength,” he says, standing up straight. His eyes take on a manic sheen and a thin smile spreads on his lips. It’s almost like he’s gone into some kind of drug induced state. “You rejected the spirit of Lord Nephil. I, on the other hand, direct it!”

Four streaks of black shoot from Ninnis’s chest. When one of them strikes my chest, it’s with a force comparable to Kainda’s hammer. I’m thrown back into the jungle. At least my landing in the foot-deep water is cushioned. But I’m having trouble catching my breath and I’ve dropped Whipsnap. When I push myself up, I see that Kainda, Em and Tunis are in a similar state. In fact, Tunis seems to be unconscious, his head underwater.

I scramble to my feet and dash to Tunis, lifting his head and propping him up against a tree. It only takes a few seconds, but by the time I’m done, Kainda and Em have launched a counter attack. Em throws a volley of knifes at Ninnis, but he doesn’t even move. The blackness reaches out and swats the blades from the air.

Hoping I’m not being watched, I strap on my climbing claws and take to the trees, moving quickly up into the canopy, watching the scene below as I move in.

Ninnis begins to laugh. “You are no better than that fool, Tobias.”

Em screams in anger, throwing more blades as Kainda charges in. The combined attack is impressive and so refined that I think the two women have been practicing together, working on coordinated attacks the way Em and Tobias once did. Em’s blades pass just over Kainda’s shoulders as she runs and keeps all four black limbs busy. The attack is so well coordinated that when Kainda strikes, Ninnis has to leap back.

Kainda’s hammer smashes into the lake, exploding water into the air. As she draws back to strike again, all four black limbs strike her chest and send her flying. Her hammer is knocked from her hands when she crashes into a tree and falls to the jungle floor.

Em presses her attack, but not even one of the blades gets past Ninnis’s defenses. Still, they do provide a nice distraction.

When I reach the end of the canopy, I leap.

If not for the sun, my airborne attack would have been more successful, but it’s not a total failure. Ninnis sees me coming at the last moment. The blackness reaches up for me, but I twist my body around and land on Ninnis’s back like he’s going to give me a piggy back ride. I punctuate the attack by wrapping my arms over his chest and squeezing. The serrated, triangular feeder-tooth blades slip into his flesh.

Ninnis shouts in pain and we both fall back beneath the surface of the lake. He thrashes and kicks. I can feel the blades cutting through his skin, burrowing deeper. Is he trying to kill himself? I can’t imagine him panicking.

And then, he’s still. Motionless.

My hands begin to sting. It grows intense, like there is acid in the water. I’m about to let go when Ninnis’s body rises out of the water and takes me with it. What’s strange about this is that Ninnis did not move. It’s as though he levitated out of the water. When I look down and see the lake’s surface beneath his feet, I know that’s exactly what happened.

The sting on my hands becomes a burn and I let go.

But I don’t fall. I’m caught, as though I’m in the grip of a Nephilim warrior. As I’m drawn around in front of Ninnis, I can see the blackness around my waist. The appendage undulates from Ninnis’s chest, intangible, yet physical at the same time. I’ve seen it before. In my mind. The spirit of Nephil, but under Ninnis’s direction.

The six wounds left by my climbing claws at the top of Ninnis’s chest, above the darkness, ooze blood.

Purple blood.

How corrupt has he become? Could he really be so evil that he has become more Nephilim than human? Is that even possible?

The wounds stitch back together.

“No,” I say.

“Yes,” Ninnis says, taking delight in the word. “You’re beginning to understand.”

He’s been toying with us. Tunis is right. He’s not human. There is nothing that Em, Kainda or I can do to stop him. Not now. He’s just been toying with us.

Em shouts and throws a knife.

Ninnis
allows
it to strike him, right in the eye. The wet splotch of the blade burying itself in Ninnis’s face is revolting, but not nearly as bad as the slurp it makes when he pulls it out. The eyeball quickly reforms and the wound disappears. He flicks the blade aside, into the lake, as though he might a twig on a boring summer day. Then a spear of black launches out, wraps around Em, slams her to the ground twice and tosses her to the side. She’s motionless when she lands, and I hope the shallow water covering the ground softened the blow and that she’s merely unconscious. But I know that if Ninnis isn’t stopped, she will be dead along with the rest of us.

But I’m helpless at the moment.

Ninnis turns to me and I can see by his expression that he means to gloat. He never gets the chance. Kainda’s heavy stone hammer collides with his face and throws him backwards. The blackness around my waist slips away and I’m dropped into the water.

I scramble back on shore and see Kainda hunched over, clutching her side. “Run,” she says to me. “You have to live.”

I ignore her, looking for Whipsnap, searching the water-filled jungle. But there is no sign of it. Not that it would help.

Ninnis roars as he floats up out of the water, held aloft by a pillar of darkness. I turn to face him, but he pays me little attention. The darkness shoots out and slams me against a tree so hard that I black out.

I come to just seconds later, but a lot has changed in those seconds. The darkness has hold of Kainda and is pinning her against a tree. My vision flickers. I hear Ninnis shouting something about betrayal and weakness.

My vision returns.

Ninnis is holding his sword, Strike, poised over Kainda’s chest.

“No,” I say, but my voice is weak. “Stop. Take me.”

Ninnis’s head slowly turns around toward me, his neck spinning further than a man’s should. “Don’t worry, little Solomon. You’re next.”

Without looking back, he plunges the sword forward, burying it in Kainda’s chest.