Chapter 11

 

“Waaahoooo!” Chad screamed as we flew through the skies. Flying on Beli was what I’d imagined it must’ve felt like when Bastian got to ride Falkor at the end of The NeverEnding Story. I echoed Chad’s hoot with a holler of my own.

“Now this is living!” Chad exclaimed.

I laughed out loud. It really was. Even though we were flying through Samhuinn and into the primordial void, it really did feel like living—in spite of the awful heat that beat down on us. I had Isabelle to thank for keeping a steady course of magica flowing into my skin to keep me cool. I wasn’t sure how Chad was handling it. I suppose he still had enough of a buzz going on that he didn’t mind it as much as he would have normally. The wind against the skin did cut the sensation of the heat somewhat—but it was a biting wind, no less. Still, the thrill of the flight was undeniable.

I spotted another creature on the skylines. “Beli, is that…”

“A chimera,” Beli said. “Part dragon, part lion, part a lot of things. Has three heads. Not especially friendly.”

Well, this is fantastic. Can we avoid it? Isabelle asked.

“Not likely,” Beli remarked. Chad would probably be confused since he didn’t hear or even know about Isabelle. Still, I really didn’t care. Confusion was Chad’s typical state of mind.

As we drew nearer, I had to confess I was confused as well. The chimera did, indeed, have three heads. One was like Beli’s—the head of a dragon—only smaller. Its wings were remarkably dragon-like, too. Vast and expansive, crimson red in color. The creature’s torso resembled that of a lion, and one of its heads, the lowest one on the body, matched its torso with a full mane. A third head emerged from the middle of its back. It had horns and looked something like a goat. The creature’s tail seemed to move as if it were a separate creature entirely, like a snake.

“That thing is hideous!” I declared. In truth, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. It looked like when God was making the animals, he accidentally dropped his bucket of animal parts and a toddler put them together however he saw fit. Nothing really matched. The thing was… unnatural.

“Chimeras have quite the temper,” Beli said.

“You would, too, if you shared a body with a lion and a goat.”

“Undoubtedly,” Beli said. “Let me do the talking. I’ve dealt with these creatures before. They fashion themselves the protectors of Samhuinn’s skies.”

The chimera, spotting us from afar, began circling around us, staring at us primarily with its goatlike head. It was sizing us up.

Beli continued flying—probably hoping the thing would realize it was outmatched and move on. The plan didn’t seem to be working, as the chimera flew in closer.

“Beli! Draig of Creation. Emissary of the All-father! State your purpose here and why you bring living humans into our domain.” It was the lion head—the one right up front—that was doing the talking.

“We seek to redeem a Loa from the void,” Beli declared.

“We cannot allow any creature, even you—and much less these humans—to enter the void.”

“We’re going there, whether you move aside or not,” Beli said. “You cannot stop me, chimera.”