EVERYTHING WENT PITCH BLACK AS the creature pulled him down, and Fort began to hyperventilate, not able to move, not even able to think. He was going to die. Just like his father had. There was nothing he could do. The creature had returned. He had nothing to fight it with. No Destruction magic. Nothing.
He screamed, out of fear more than any hope for help. But the only response was another roar from the monster, and Fort knew then that no one would be coming to rescue him.
Everything began to get hazy as his breathing grew faster, and part of him knew he’d pass out if he couldn’t slow it down. But what did that matter? Maybe it’d be better to be knocked out if he was going to be . . . to be eaten?
“NO!” Fort screamed at himself. “Not again. Not again!” He couldn’t let someone else down, not like he’d failed his father, even if that someone else was him. But what could he do? The fear was too much, and there was no way to overcome that. . . .
Except there was. A spell he’d found in the Healing book.
“Nen timo!” he shouted, and his hands began to glow blue, lighting the darkness inside the creature’s fist as they descended. Fort quickly pushed his hands against his chest and felt the cold magic flow into him.
Immediately his breathing slowed, and the haziness dissipated, though he couldn’t see anything outside the monstrous hand clutching him. Still, he could even think clearly again.
That Remove Fear spell really worked!
Okay, Fort thought. Get it together. There has to be a way to escape this.
Yes, he might get eaten, but right now, he was still alive, and he still had some spells. He rose to his feet, using the creature’s nearby finger as leverage, and steadied himself as best he could against it.
Strangely, his heart began to race again, and he wondered if the fear was coming back already. But no, this was something . . . different. Frustration and anger began to rise in his chest, and he clenched his fists, wondering if he could punch his way right through the creature.
This thing killed his father and now was trying to eat him, too! Rage pounded in Fort’s veins, and he bared his teeth. “That’s not going to happen!” he shouted, slamming his fist against the monster’s scaled finger.
Oddly, their descent stopped immediately.
Fort stepped back in surprise as the creature’s fingers slowly spread open, revealing two red sources of light in an otherwise pitch-black cavern. The red light lit the walls of the cavern, showing uneven claw marks where the creature had dug up from below. Much farther down, a hint of a weird, greenish glow suggested that maybe the portal to the creature’s dimension was still open somewhere in the depths.
The creature’s red eyes stared at him from what looked like dozens of feet away, and it roared again. The blast of its breath sent Fort crashing backward into the monster’s scaled fingers, but he didn’t stay down long.
“Come on!” he shouted, leaping to his feet and waving the creature toward him. “Attack me! I dare you! You’ve got nothing!”
The hand jolted beneath him as it moved closer to the monster’s head. Its eyes reflected off yard-long teeth, each one glistening with saliva as it opened its mouth.
Fort knew he should escape, if he could. The fingers were open. Maybe he could jump off the monster’s hand and climb up out of the cavern, back to the surface.
But right now, escape was the last thing on his mind. All Fort cared about was revenge, both for himself and his father. He wanted the creature to feel pain, as much as or more than what it had put him through when it had taken his father.
It didn’t even matter anymore if this was the same creature. As far as Fort was concerned, this one would pay for its people’s crimes.
As he drew closer to the razor-sharp teeth, a practical question filled his mind. Even in his rage, he knew punching the creature wouldn’t exactly do much. He wasn’t afraid to attack it physically, of course, not now. But he needed to put it through agony! If only he’d ever learned Destruction magic . . .
Wait. There was another spell still in his mind. He’d forgotten about it after considering using it on the Old One.
Cause Heavy Wounds. The spell he’d taken from the Healing book before Jia had caught him.
Perfect.
As its hand reached the creature’s head, it tried to toss Fort into the air, straight at its wide-open mouth. But Fort wrapped both hands around the nearest of the scaled fingers, holding on tightly.
Then he grinned.
“Mon d’rexenen cor!” he shouted, casting the Cause Heavy Wounds spell, expecting the usual cool Healing energy in his palms.
Instead, his hands began to burn white hot, sending pain shooting up through his arms and into his shoulders. He screamed in agony . . . but so did the creature. As it did, he felt both the pain and the magical energy leave him and flow into the monster.
The giant monster roared in anguish as the finger Fort held began to wither away, the muscle dying and the bones crumbling beneath his hands.
It was working! Fort screamed in joy as the monster moved its hand back away from its mouth, and he dropped off the wilted finger. For a moment, the bloodred eyes almost seemed confused, like the creature wasn’t sure what had caused its pain.
“That was me!” Fort shouted at it, bashing his fist against his chest. “I did that to you. And I’m going to do it again!”
Except, he couldn’t do it again. Not having mastered the spell, he could only use it the once.
The monster paused another moment, then moved Fort back toward its mouth once more. Apparently, as bad as the pain had been, it wasn’t enough to stop the creature completely.
Fort quickly clambered over to one of the still-healthy fingers and held himself in place as the creature tried to toss him into its mouth again. In spite of the air whistling around him and the force of the monster’s arm, Fort managed to hold on.
But the creature wasn’t done. It tried throwing him over and over, getting more frustrated with every attempt. Fort’s arms began to tire, and he slipped a bit on the last toss, but the monster had had enough and instead drove its palm toward the nearby rock wall.
Fort shouted in surprise, barely managing to climb around to the back of the finger as the monster slammed its hand against the wall, sending huge boulders crumbling down into the nothingness below them. A second hit knocked one of Fort’s hands loose, and a small bit of fear began to worm its way back into his heart. “Oh, great,” he said, his hands now starting to sweat. The spell couldn’t have lasted longer?
But it wasn’t another Remove Fear spell he needed here. The Cause Heavy Wounds spell had worked, but once just wasn’t enough. He needed to cast it again and again until the creature was destroyed. But he couldn’t do that, not without having mastered the spell. . . .
The monster’s hand bashed into the wall once more, and this time Fort lost his grip completely. He frantically grabbed for whatever he could as he fell into nothingness, barely managing to grab onto the scales on the back of the creature’s hand to avoid tumbling into the depths below.
The monster lifted its hand for another hit, and Fort tumbled off the side of the hand, crashing into the creature’s thumb. He slammed into it hard enough to knock the air from his lungs, and spots began exploding in her vision. Even woozy, though, he managed to wrap his weak arms and legs around the thumb and hold on tight.
Not that he’d be able to hold on much longer. One more hit, maybe two, and that would be it. If the creature didn’t eat him first.
Why couldn’t Cause Heavy Wounds have been one of the spells he took from Jia? One instance of the magic just wasn’t enough! And it wasn’t like he could work out the words on his own. . . .
. . . Could he?
A memory of studying with Rachel floated through his mind, and something about how the words to a spell and its opposite were really close, only one word apart. Could he use that with the Heal Heavy Wounds spell he did have?
The creature slammed its hand into the wall again, and the hit sent a shock wave through Fort’s body. That was it, he wouldn’t last another one.
Fortunately, the monster seemed done with smashing its hand against the wall.
Instead, it brought its thumb straight up to its mouth, ready to pick Fort off with its teeth.