Chasing Sparks

Chapter 38.2

Tiel snarled. He wasn’t sure what he felt now. Things were happening too fast. Too many strange things going on at once. He just wanted to be done with this business and away from here. He pulled his arm free from Alona and pushed her away.

Just then Tiel saw a slight flicker of movement above his eye line, he saw Celie swivel quickly and release an arrow up at the shelf. But before he had time to realise what had happened, pain erupted in his chest and he was slumping forward towards the floor.

Wren raced forward and caught Tiel as he fell. An arrow had gone right through the Seekers back and out the front of his chest. Blood was pouring out of the wound as Tiel’s eyes glazed over.

“Noooooooo!” Alona screamed. “Save him,” she cried at Wren, “Save him!”

Wren could see Alona staring at him and shouting but he was already focused on Tiel’s wound. He pulled the arrow clean out of Tiel’s chest while simultaneously pouring his spark’s energy into the wound, healing the rupture in his heart. Wren could feel the hole healing up but the heart had stopped beating. Wren wasn’t sure what to do so just kept pouring Celestial energy into the wound.

It was Alona then, who pushed Wren aside and started pounding on Tiel’s chest. One-two, one-two, over and over. “Live, damn you,” she shouted at Tiel. As she desperately pounded her fist on his chest, “Don’t you dare die,” she screamed.

Tiel suddenly coughed and gulped in some air.

Alona held his head and started crying.

Wren turned his attention away from the Tiel for a moment and saw a Caver lying on the cavern floor, with an arrow sticking through its neck. The girl with the bow had apparently eliminated the source of the ice mage’s pain. But this was just the start.

“Kill them!” A voice suddenly sounded from the far side of the cavern. And everything went crazy.

Cavers, Skree, Kolle and even a few Terrons all wearing black robes started popping up all around the cavern. Arrows began raining down on the sparked affines from every direction. Hundreds more started streaming across makeshift wooden bridges they had lowered across the rift.

Wren blocked out the noise and leaned over Alona to continue healing the now conscious Tiel.

Tiel gradually became aware of his surroundings and realised what was happening. He threw up an ice shield at the last moment to protect the six sparked affines stranded in the middle of the cavern from the raining arrows.

Under the protection of the shield and the help of Wren, Tiel was gaining strength fast now. His look of pain had transformed into something that would strike fear in the heart of any man. It terrified Wren to be sure.

Tiel began feeling a lot better and began chanting quietly to himself, as the shield still held. Then suddenly the shield vanished and an incredible volley of ice missiles flew outwards with tremendous force towards all parts of the shelf around the cavern. The noise was deafening as ice exploded with amazing force all around them.

Kolle, Cavers, Terrons. Anyone or thing up on the shelf was killed in the terrifying explosion. Silence then descended momentarily on the cavern as everyone tried to recover from the incredible blast. Tiel had destroyed the whole shelf. Nothing moved above them any more. Even the Kolle and Cavers crossing the rift paused to look at the level of destruction around the cavern.

The silence was then broken by an ear splitting raw as Bolo charged headlong into the horde of enemies coming across the rift. Wren was awed by the raw power and rage of the man. Bolo hit the army advancing towards them with a huge war cry, cleaving countless bodies in two as he ploughed into them.