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Lazarus flew up towards Cindy.
She was blasting several groups of bats with sprays of ice daggers, but sooner or later the bats were going to overtake her.
Lazarus pointed at the bat. Lightning and flames sprouted from his hands, and they struck the giant bats and they plummeted from the sky. The smell of charred skin peppered his nostrils.
A bat then tried to attack him. He looked at the creature and in his haste created an ice spike and shoved it at the creature’s head, skewering it mid-flight.
Shannol was slashing with her sword striking and cutting at her assailants.
"Lazarus, help Royce," he heard Grace yell.
Swooping and soaring around, he saw that Cindy was doing fine without his help. He turned and saw Royce trying to kill the bats with his claws. Royce was in his true form of an Alpha Grog.
The bats circled Royce, trying to knock him off his mount, so Lazarus moved toward him and focused his power to create an air pocket and smash the bats to smithereens.
The bats disengaged from Royce and turned their attack on Lazarus, who welcomed it. He felt awesome and powerful, and truly wanted to fight these creatures. He had felt this battle-lust before when he was fighting the mutant Grogs in Austin, and now he welcomed this fight.
Lazarus created light swords out of our pure magic from of his hands. A bat screeched at him, and he struck downwards, cutting the beast in half. Another creature flew toward him, then another, and he killed and destroyed any bat that came within arm’s distance of him. After a few minutes, all the creatures were dead.
Lazarus was hovering next to Royce and Cindy, and was very happy to see them. Overwhelmed by his battle-lust, he thought he might have hit his friends by mistake.
Lazarus said, "Are we okay?"
They didn't answer him for a while, and Lazarus realized he was covered in blood and gore. He must have looked a mess.
Cindy said, "We should be asking you the same thing."
Shannol drifted her flying mount closer to him. Lazarus felt the breeze coming from the flapping of the falcon’s wings.
"Lazarus, you're a great warrior. I have never seen such ferocity and power before," she said.
Lazarus felt a little embarrassed. "Did we lose anybody?"
"Yes, we lost most of my warriors."
Lazarus looked at the remaining falcons. The only people left were the Alphas and Shannol. All the warriors and their falcons had perished in the fight.
"Should we look for any survivors below?" Grace asked.
Lazarus deferred to Shannol. They were her warriors, so it was up to her. He looked at Shannol.
“No,” she said. “They couldn't survive the fall. We need to find some shelter. The bats are night creatures and might come back."
"Lead on, then," he said.
They followed her until it was almost morning. Shannol found an outcropping of stones jutting out over a mountain ridge, with a rock ledge wide enough for them to sleep on as the falcons perched on the rocky ridges. It was almost comfortable, despite the cold breeze that gusted up from the lake.
They found some wood and started a bonfire. They were too far away from the ground to attract any wolves. Lazarus created his fireballs to watch over them, and Cindy's falcons also protected them. He knew they’d be fine when they fell asleep, but he was too excited for slumber.
Lazarus looked over the ridge. They weren't that far off the ground, maybe thirty or forty feet. He spotted another person staring off into the forest. It was Shannol. She was sat on the rocks, staring forward.
Lazarus walked over and sat next to her. Shannol turned to him. He looked over and saw the others were already asleep. He wondered why he felt guilty talking to Shannol alone. Lazarus sensed Shannol was sad for some reason, and actually saw her aura, like a blue haze. She was depressed.
"Shannol, are you okay?" Lazarus asked.
"No, not really. I’ve lost most of my soldiers, and the other warriors are going back to the Capital. I cannot protect you," she said.
"It is not your fault. Those large bats came from out of nowhere," he said. "Besides, you don't have to protect us. We can handle ourselves. You can fight with us."
"I don't know how I can do my duty without my soldiers."
"You didn't know about the bats."
Shannol didn't say anything for a while. After a long moment, she continued. "I knew about the bats. But they are usually only in the Wilden woods," she said. "Something must have scared them to come here, or we are close to the Wilden woods. I thought we had skirted that area."
Lazarus felt the cold breeze flowing around them. It was hard for him to see in the forest in the darkness. "It doesn't matter, and these things happen. We were lucky you didn't fall with the other warriors."
She sighed. "Yes, Master Lazarus. I don't want to disappoint the Princess. She has placed her faith in me to help you."
"We still need you," Lazarus said.
Shannol scanned around the forest below. Lazarus heard the cooing of the falcons. He thought Middle Earth was a beautiful place, and he understood why Tolkien wanted to write about it.
"Is it true that your world was destroyed?" she asked.
He nodded. "Yes, it is true." Lazarus didn't want to add that it was their decision to open the Bastions, and with the opening of the Bastions, destroy their own world, his Earth. But they had no choice but to do that.
"It must have been hard, losing everything you had before," she said. He felt her fingers touch his arm, but he moved his hand away.
"It was difficult, but we all lost something. It is nice having the others with me. We can rely on each other," he said.
"I understand. I will get some rest," Shannol said. She stood and walked away to the bonfire.
