Despite what even a cursory understanding of gravity would lead you to believe, Neil did not immediately plummet downward toward inevitable injury, if not death. Rather, he drifted down lazily, like a leaf swept off a tree heading toward the ground at its own leisurely pace. It was then that it all clicked into place for me: the water bottle, Amy’s odd behavior, her question to Neil, all of it.
“You knew this would happen.” I glanced over at her, just in time to see her knock back a small vial of orange liquid. When she lowered her head, her eyes had changed color to match the same hue as the liquid she’d just swallowed. “ When we were sitting on the cots, you already knew Albert would be in danger and Neil would have to jump in and save him.”
“Actually, I’ve known something like was coming since meeting Neil and Albert,” Amy replied. She walked to the edge and stared at her student’s slow descent—he was nearly halfway there. Neither Albert nor the chimera had noticed him yet, but that wouldn’t last much longer.
“How could you have possibly known a thing like that?”
“Because Albert shouldn’t exist,” Amy said, her voice a bit softer than before. “Raising a zombie takes tremendous magic, the sort that no one, not even a prodigy, could manage just by picking up a spellbook. The bond they share would account for some increase in power, but to pull back a soul as fully-functional as Albert’s would take a veteran necromancer with ages of experience. Thus, I was forced to conclude that some other magic property had given Neil’s ritual a bit of a nudge.”
I very much wanted to ask her for clarification, though obviously, there was an explanation that stood out as having the most potential; however, before I could ask her, another voice tore through the arena. It belonged to Neil, and it was packed full of concern, desperation, and fear.
As well as a tremendous amount of magic.
“Mortus Aurellius!” Neil lighted to the ground with his hands raised, gesturing to Albert, who was barely getting away from a stab of the chimera’s tale.
“Neil?” He jerked his head over in shock, a lucky move that actually made it so a rogue swipe of tusk missed taking his noggin off. “What are you doing here?”
“Duh. I’m helping you kick this thing’s ass.” Neil took a brief moment to catch his breath, then began waving his hands and letting out another spell. “Merricort Stravinci!”
I wasn’t sure what this one did, but I could already see the effects of the first—they’d been apparent as soon as he cast it. Albert’s flesh was knitting back together at an accelerated rate, his wounds closing over like they’d never existed. Vampires have exceptional regenerative capabilities, and Albert was healing far faster than I could have managed, even with a fresh swig of blood.
The chimera had turned around and was eyeing both Albert and Neil, clearly deciding which of them to take out first. Both were stringy and small, though the one with the sword had obviously annoyed it by dodging about. Of course, the fact that Albert could dodge made Neil seem like a more tempting target. The soft voice of my inner predator, the instincts that came with being a vampire, whispered insight into how this creature, formed of pain and magic, was thinking. It was, to say the least, very disconcerting.
“You shouldn’t be down here!” Albert yelled, splitting his attention between the chimera and his friend. “It’s dangerous.”
“Which is exactly why I’m down here. You’ve been letting that thing treat you like a chew toy. Did you really think I wouldn’t intervene?”
“This is my problem to deal with. I’m the one who drew the sword; I’m the only one who has to get hurt.” Albert was practically pleading now, though I wasn’t sure what good he thought his words would do. Even if Neil changed his mind at that exact moment, he’d still be just as stuck in the pit.
“Albert—and I mean this with love—fuck that, and fuck you for saying it!” Neil turned his attention completely away from the chimera, staring at his friend across the small distance between them. “Your problem? I’m the one who has to pick up the pieces and go on living without you. I’m the one who has to try and cope with a world that doesn’t have my only damned friend. I won’t do that, Albert, not ever again. Like it or not, your problems are my problems, and if you’re in deep shit, then so I am. We’re in this life, battle, sword, all this fucking craziness, we’re in it together.”
It was a heartfelt, if unnecessarily crass speech, and it would have been moving to all of us, if not for something else that was already moving. When Neil had turned away, the chimera had made its decision, and was bearing down on him from across the arena. It moved more silently than I might have expected, the dirt muffling its hooved footsteps as it barreled toward the young necromancer.
“Move, you dumb shit!” Krystal screamed, hands cupped to her mouth in a desperate attempt to mimic a megaphone. Despite the distance, her words reached their target, and Neil suddenly snapped to his surroundings. It was enough to get him mobile, but unfortunately not enough to let him dodge entirely.
A tusk tore through his side, a few inches below his ribs, sending blood spurting into the dirt and Neil tumbling to the ground. Finally given a chance to do some real damage, the chimera didn’t hesitate. It leapt atop the young mage, a dark tornado of snapping jaws and pounding hooves. Neil managed to get his arms up in a feeble defense, but it would only take seconds for them to be shredded into uselessness. Fortunately for Neil, the chimera didn’t have seconds.
There was no scream of warning or anger, which was the sort of thing that might have given the chimera time to react. Instead, it was suddenly seized by strong hands—ones that looked as though they might be gripping its very spine—lifted off Neil, and hurled across the arena, where it slammed into the stone wall with enough force to leave several small cracks. It was clearly still alive as it limped back to a standing position, but it obviously realized it no longer had easy game to attack.
Albert, tufts of fur still clinging to his hand, stood between his friend and the monster, looking at it with the sort of expression I’d never have thought my cheerful assistant capable of. He swung the sword once, then gripped it with both hands as he locked eyes with the beast.
“Holy shit,” Bubba muttered. “Are zombies always that strong?”
“Not usually.” Amy shook her head. “Neil’s first spell was to regenerate Albert’s flesh; the second was to increase his speed and strength.”
“I didn’t realize necromancers could do that.” Given how little I knew about magic in general, I had no qualms admitting my dearth of knowledge.
“It’s much harder with other undead, but with a zombie they’ve created, it’s different. The two share a bond, they’re connected. It’s like Neil is casting on a piece of himself.”
“That’s the thing about zombies,” Krystal added. “On their own, they’re basically no trouble at all to put down. But you pair them with a necromancer, especially one who cares about their creation, and they can be some of the toughest bastards this side of Hell.”
“Looks like he’ll get to see for himself.” Arch was still watching the fight carefully, with his same neutral expression. I wondered, just for a moment, how much of this he’d guessed would happen. Then I heard movement, and my attention was drawn back to the fight below.
The chimera was circling, trying to find a way to get at the injured Neil, but Albert was keeping pace with it every step of the way. His hands tightened on the sword’s hilt, and it may have been my imagination, but it seemed to me the blade was glowing a bit brighter than before.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Albert said, his voice still gentle, even as he stared at the blood of his friend on the chimera’s lips. “I really don’t. I don’t like hurting anyone. But if you try to touch my friend again, I’ll do it.”
Either the chimera didn’t understand him, or it didn’t believe him, because it grew tired of circling and finally opted to take the initiative. Backing up a few steps, the chimera charged, its hooves pounding up a cloud of dirt as it tried to mow Albert down to get at the young man he was defending.
“I’m sorry,” Albert said, digging his feet in. From the outset, it was clear; he didn’t intend to dodge this time. He readied the sword and kept his eyes on the hungry monster bearing down on him. As it drew near, I feared for a moment that Albert had suddenly frozen in terror, as he stayed put even when the tusks were only inches away from his newly healed flesh. Then, in a motion so quick a single flick of the eye would have missed it, Albert swung sword with all his might, catching the chimera directly in the head.
There was a blinding flash of a light, and I mean that quite literally. All of us were momentarily rendered incapable of sight, rubbing at our eyes and the spots that refused to clear. When they finally faded, we looked down, expecting to see a scene of gore and death.
What we actually found was quite different, and exceedingly unexpected.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Arch said, peering into the arena. “Never seen that one before.”
“Ditto,” Krystal agreed. Bubba and Amy nodded their agreement, while I just stared in confusion.
Down in the arena were a still bleeding Neil, a very confused Albert, and technically no sign of the chimera. It had vanished, almost entirely. The “almost” was a necessary addition to the descriptor because, while the chimera was certainly gone, there were three new things in its place.
Nestled in the dirt and apparently sleeping was a panther cub, a baby boar, and what I greatly suspected to be a scorpion egg.