The Stronghold 2: Immortals

Flying Horse Things

Finally the phone was picked up on the other end.

"Hello?" a tired voice said.

"George! Long time no talk," I said with a big smile in my voice. "How's the divorce going?"

"Awfully," she replied. "Pepper's being a dick, as per usual, and Sanj keeps on getting into arguments with the judge."

"You've gone to court?" 

"It's Pepper, what did you expect?" 

"Possible niceness? Nah, he punched me in the face. I don't know what I was thinking. Anyway, I need to ask you a favour."

"What now? I'm tired," Georgina moaned. 

"Is there any chance you could gather the Super Glitches again for me?" I asked hopefully. 

"What for?" Georgina asked suspiciously. 

"We need to defend the world from a possible alien monster attack at Nightmare," I announced. 

"The world can die for all I care," Georgina snapped. 

"I didn't realise you cared about Pepper that much," I said dryly. 

"That sentence has double meanings, Shaade, and I don't like either of them," Georgina growled.

"Look, are you going to help or not?" I asked, losing my patience.

"I don't have any powers," Georgina said sulkily. "I can't do anything."

"You're the leader," I said in surprise. "You always have power. Power over us lot."

"No... I'll get the others, they can help, I'm just a waste of space," Georgina sighed.

"Listen here," I said viciously, "you can shut the hell up because you are not a waste of space. Who started the Super Glitches, eh? Who actually looked out for lil old me when you knew nothing about me? Who stayed strong throughout all this time? Who has kept this group together through thick and thin? You, that's bloody who. Pepper's corrupted you, George, and I am not standing for it. The second you get here I am showing you how wrong you are by letting you meet someone who still cares about you. So you better be here in five minutes, you bloody idiot, or I'm going to drag your here by your hair and then stab you with an icicle. Got it?"

A stunned silence replied.

"Good," I said in satisfaction, hanging up. I slid my phone back into my pocket to see Harry staring at me. I clapped my hands in front of his face and he blinked, going slightly pink.

"That was... violent," he said at last.

"She's my friend, I can yell at her," I shrugged. "She needed the pep talk anyway."

"Monsters are trying to break free!" Max said in alarm.

"Right, time to put this plan into action," I said, rubbing my hands together gleefully. "Delta, follow me."

*

Sooner than I expected the monsters broke out. I sent Delta off to go and deal with them while walking around in circles, trying to think of how to open the portal.

"Do I have to knock myself out?" I wondered aloud.

Finally, he listens! Loki cried in exasperation. I've been trying to tell you that for the past ten minutes!

"I've had other things on my mind," I muttered. "How do I knock myself out, then?"

See that tree?

"Yeah."

Run at it.

*

I woke up again in a frozen palace with a pounding headache.

"Ow," I moaned, holding my forehead with one hand and wincing. "I think I ran a little too fast."

"At least now we have more time," Loki said, slipping off the throne and striding over to me, looking as majestic as ever. "Copy what I do exactly just with shadows."

"Do shadows even work here?" I questioned.

"Shaade! Now is not the time!" Loki hissed, red patterns beginning to show on his face as he went into Frost Giant mode. I nodded hurriedly and mirrored the movements Loki made with his hands, somehow knowing the correct words to say. Our magical mystical chant roughly translated to:

*

"Open, you damn portal, or we're all going to die," I said in English. I was surprised to find myself stood in front of a glistening, shimmering, blue orb and grinned as I realised the portal had opened and I was awake again. 

"Look out!" Delta screamed. I spun around just in time for a large, armoured fist to go crashing into my skull.

*

Georgina had never had much patience for anyone but when it came to Shaade her opinions differed. Sure, he was the most annoying person in existence, but he'd had quite a rough time and kept on smiling through. He was a real life demon that tried to act like an angel and he made her laugh, even if it was just by turning all of Pepper's belongings pink as a final act of defiance against her ex-husband.

A quick phone call had followed Shaade's surprise outburst and the Super Glitches were all assembled in Rebecca's main hall as Georgina briefed her friends on what was going on. Emmi had several large, angry Pokemon with her as she got steadily more agitated and Rebecca was swinging an electrified knife, floating off the floor in a bubble of energy. Amalia had Adam the centaur with her and Sophie had her claws out, hissing at nothing in particular.

"We have to move and fast," Georgina finished. "But I don't know where to go."

"I do," Emmi said darkly. "Shaade told me quite a lot and I decided to do a little more extra research. Nightmare seems to be in the middle of nowhere."

"Great," Georgina sighed. "Just great."

"We can take the horses," Rebecca suggested. Her school had stables as Rebecca was an avid rider and Adam needed somewhere to stay occasionally. 

"Good idea," Georgina nodded. "Horses go off road, we can speed along on them that way."

A whinny from the corner of the room made everybody jump. Georgina looked over to see a gleaming white stallion with broad feathery wings.

"Pegasus!" Amalia squealed in delight. The mystical horse snorted and walked slowly across the room to the assigned leader of the group.

"Er, hello," Georgina said, patting the horse on the nose tentatively. "Why are you here?" 

Pegasus gave her a disbelieving look and knelt down on his front legs, snorting again. Georgina took the hint and climbed onto his back, grateful that her jeans weren't old and likely to rip. Her friends looked slightly afraid and then more terrified still as eerie, winged beasts that looked like skeletal horses appeared in the room.

"Thestrals," Georgina said in surprise. "Why are they here? Actually, nevermind, just get on them."

"What about Adam?" Amalia asked.

"He can't come." Georgina looked at the centaur apologetically. "Sorry, Adam."

"It is no bother," he said with a shrug. "Someone must look after the small humans."

"They're not allowed in the staff room or the top floors," Rebecca reminded him. "Don't let them near it and if anybody tries, trample them to death."

"Becky!" Sophie said in shock.

"What?"

"You can't trample them, too obvious, throw them down the stairs at least," Sophie suggested. Georgina shook her head and tapped Pegasus' side. He rose into the air with a whinny and within a second they were flying amongst the clouds, Georgina holding back a scream at the sudden height.

"Let's just hope Sirius Black doesn't die this time," she muttered, glimpsing the Thestrals out of the corner of her eye and recalling Order of the Phoenix with a grim smile.