Seeing stars, I staggered back and b.u.mped into something-the building across the street. Jie pressed forward, punching me square in the gut, which threw my head against the wall. No idea how I stayed conscious, but when she pulled back for another kick, I grabbed her leg and tossed her to the ground. Chest heaving, I brought the knife up to stab her, but before I finished the move, she had rolled out of the way and back onto her feet.
Matt Archer life lesson number ninety-seven: Kung Fu demons suck.
I lost her in the mist. I really wanted to call for backup, but not knowing where she was meant I had to keep quiet. If I couldn"t see her, maybe-maybe-she couldn"t see me.
I backed up against the wall so Jie couldn"t sneak up behind me. Until I could breathe without wheezing, I was going to let her do all the work.
"Tink?" I whispered. "Can you tell where she is?"
No, which is pretty disturbing. Wherever this beast came from, she"s very well camouflaged, both physically and spectrally.
Disturbing. Understatement for sure. The screams had moved farther way, like whatever was attacking the village was herding everyone toward the water. Occasionally I heard one of the men call out and once, Will answered. Unless Dad was out here searching for me, I was alone.
So I did something totally irrational: I closed my eyes.
I wasn"t sure why I did it, but in the back of my head, I thought about all the times I sensed I was being watched. It wasn"t because I saw or heard something. I felt it. I didn"t care if it sounded like a cheap faux-Jedi trick. Like Jie said-humans relied too much on their eyes. Time to find something that worked better.
I dragged in a slow, painful breath. The smell of rotting fruit, mingled with the faintest hint of sulfur teased my nose. Upwind. She was upwind. I thought about the wind chimes, how they seemed to move without any air. Which way had they swayed? Left. So she"d be to my right.
A faint scuff of a shoe catching a pebble on the road, also to my right.
Hold, Tink murmured. I feel her now. She"s close. Stay still.
Tink"s power thrummed through me, and holding still did nothing but let it build to nearly unbearable levels. I opened my eyes and waited. One heartbeat followed another and another, then the wind changed. A shadow moved in the mist, giving me enough warning to evade a kick to the head.
Instead, I ducked low and sprang outward like an offensive linesman trying to stop a blitz. Jie"s leg rammed into my shoulder, but I hung onto her hips and tackled her.
I whipped the knife to her throat, pinning her body under mine. She struggled, but even with demonic strength on her side, it was nothing compared to the power Tink gave me, and Jie couldn"t gain any leverage.
"What answers?" I growled. "What were you trying to confirm from Xing Li?"
She laughed, and the sound was guttural-nothing like what you"d expect to come out of a pet.i.te Chinese girl. "You already have all the answers you need. And now, so do we."
I gripped her shoulders, pulled up her head and slammed it down. The real Matt, buried deep inside Tink"s rage, questioned this violence against a girl. Hunter Matt knew this thing wasn"t a girl. "What answers?"
"The Archer," she said, eyes gleaming like a lizard"s. "It"s all there, and we know what it means. One last piece left to learn, locked away in words that mean nothing. Once we have that, we"ll have it all."
I pressed the knife against her throat, nicking the skin. Blood welled up around the cut. "What words? Tell me!"
"No."
In a flash, she grabbed my hand, a manic smile twisting her pretty face. Before I could stop her, she plunged the blade into her chest, laughing the whole time.
She died smiling.
Sick, reeling from what she"d said, I slumped back against the wall of the house and watched as blood saturated the front of Jie"s shirt. Answers-they had them. And now I couldn"t even ask. Not even Xing Li could help me; they"d taken him, too.
A scream startled me out of my funk. I couldn"t ask Jie, but there was something else out here, and I could sure as h.e.l.l could ask it.
I plowed through the mist, occasionally b.u.mping into lamp posts, small trees and once, a statue of Buddha. Hoping the fog would lift as I got closer to the water, I followed the shouts, screams and, yeah, those were growls in the distance. The trees grew denser, forcing me to slow down. Every second that ticked by made Tink more agitated.
As I crested a hill outside the village, the mist lifted, almost like someone raising a veil from the world.
And once I could see the battlefield, I really wished I hadn"t.
Two dozen men, women and children lay on the rich green gra.s.s, some dead, some dying, all hurt. Their blood made dark stains, distinct against each fragile blade. Kelly was kneeling by a boy, tying a tourniquet around his leg. He glanced up when I pa.s.sed and pointed downrange. "The rest of the Pandas showed up. And there"s something else, but we haven"t gotten a good look at it yet."
I nodded and took off at a sprint. The shouts of men fighting, of gunshots and grenades, were distinct now, coming from a dense copse of trees right at the edge of a small lake that had formed off to the side of the river. The grove shook and swayed as the battle raged.
Tink picked that moment to blast me with everything she had left. I stumbled a few steps, but kept my footing and charged into the trees without thinking about anything but drawing blood. Good thing, because the second I cleared the tree line, a huge black and white paw swung down from overhead and nearly knocked my head off. I skidded to a stop as a Panda dropped out of the branches with a snarl.
While regular pandas are gentle and cute, this monstrosity looked like it had stepped out of a nightmare. Tall, with human proportioned limbs, a thick body and the slitted eyes of a reptile that glowed a faint purple, the creature boasted claws like knives and teeth like something out of a sawmill.
"h.e.l.lo, ugly," I said. "How"s it hanging?"
It c.o.c.ked its head, a lot like my older brother did when he was annoyed with me. Its response was in Chinese, but it sounded like, "Look who"s talking, a.s.swipe."
"Oh, you"re going to be a fun one," I said. "I can tell."
It chuckled and shook its arms out. I watched its shoulders to see which way it would move, but kept all my focus on the knife in my hand. The handle felt comfortable, ready. So did I, so when the monster swung in a left/right combination, I ducked right under its arms and stabbed it in the chest before it figured out where I went.
I was already moving on before it hit the dirt.
You"re in a mood, Tink said, as I made my way toward the team. I like it.
"Like it on your own time," I said, slipping around another tree to crouch behind a moss-covered fallen log. I could hear Will shouting for cover-not much farther now. "What do you see out there?"
Touchy. But, as you wish. She went quiet for nearly thirty seconds-a lifetime in the midst of a fight. Two Pandas left. And him.
I wasn"t going to worry about him until I had to. "Okay. Let"s go."
I crept forward, checking both the branches above, and any piles of leaves or depressions on the ground. A lot of places to hide out here, and I didn"t intend to be caught off guard. Once or twice I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye, but it turned out to be a shadow.
"One got through!" Lanningham shouted. "Sir, do we engage?"
"Don"t engage. Not yet." Johnson shouted back. "Where"s Archer?"
I had only five seconds to wonder what "got through" before a Panda, checking over its shoulder as it ran, came barreling through the trees right at me. It stopped short and shrieked.
"Hi there," I said, smiling, sure it looked more like I was baring my teeth. "May I have this dance?"
This one was smarter than the first. It started backing away, toward the team. I wasn"t about to let it go, though, and I charged. Caught between a wielder and a hard place, its flight instinct switched to fight and it turned suddenly. Not expecting it, I couldn"t avoid the paw coming at my head. It grazed my temple, and the force was enough to slam me into a tree. I slid down and landed hard on my a.s.s. My vision had gone kaleidoscope, and six abstract Pandas stalked over.
Tink growled and my eyesight sharpened with a snap to my forehead. I stayed limp against the tree, waiting. When the Panda bent to tear me open with its claws, I rolled away and slashed its calves. It howled and hobbled after me, but I was already up and I put the blade in its back.
With a reproachful whimper, it teetered and fell.
"I"m getting too old for this." I felt along my hairline and my hand came away slick with blood. Despite Tink"s help, my vision was still haloed around the edges and I wobbled when I tried to walk. I crouched, taking deep breaths to clear my head, thinking a nap sounded good.
A small earthquake made the entire copse shiver.
"G.o.d almighty!" Blakeney yelled up ahead. "Can someone tell me what that thing is?"
I had an idea, which was proven right when I caught the scent of wood smoke.
Fire had arrived-and it was going to try to burn us out.
Chapter Twenty-Four.
I staggered into a clearing and met up with Lanningham, who was staring into the trees across the way. A flamethrower hung loose in his hand. The ground had been churned up by boots and paws and claws, but by my quick count, the whole team was intact.
Including Dad, who was crouched halfway up a tree with an a.s.sault rifle. Now that was a familiar sight.
"What happened?" Lanningham said, sounding hoa.r.s.e. "We"ve been looking all over for you!"
"Long story," I said. The smell of smoke was getting stronger, and tendrils of gray were reaching into the sky not far from our position. "What"ve we got?"
"Something that doesn"t give a good G.o.dd.a.m.n about flamethrowers, that"s what we"ve got," he said, pointing.
I took a few steps forward, squinting, and saw Will waiting at the other side of the clearing. Beyond that, deep in the trees, something huge and orange waded toward him. Its hide undulated, like ripples on the lake. What could make it waver like that? Were those scales? I stared harder, then recoiled.
G.o.d, Fire wasn"t a fire-breathing lizard. It was a lizard made of flames.
"Jesus," I whispered. No wonder Lanningham said flamethrowers wouldn"t work. "Tink? What do we do? If we throw the knives, how will we ever get them back?"
Get the monster wet?
"And then what?"
Give me a minute.
"We don"t have a minute."
Trees caught fire wherever the beast walked, and as it drew closer, its shape became more clear. If you combined an iguana with a triceratops head and a bat"s wings, you"d come up with this creature. Its bony head had two horns that glowed like red hot pokers, and its clawed feet dug up piles of dirt with each step. The canopy overhead was probably the only reason it didn"t fly at us.
I jogged over to Will and he spared me a brief glance before turning back to the beast in the trees. "Wondered where you got off to."
"Let"s just say Jie wasn"t entirely human." I shrugged when his eyebrow raised. "But we can talk about that later. Any thoughts on how we handle this? I"m guessing ordnance is useless and the flamethrowers would only make it happy."
"We need to drive it into the lake."
"How are we going to do that?" I asked. Yes, it was the obvious thing to do, but a fire-made monster would have no desire to take a dip in autumn chilled water.
"We"ll convince it to go." A slow, cold smile spread across his face and his expression was mischief incarnate. "With live bait."
I burst out laughing. Wrong place, wrong time, but this was funny. "Don"t think the irony of this moment escapes me, man. This is punishment for all the times I sent you in to flush Bears out of the woods."
"Sure is." He was laughing too, even as the creature drew close enough to heat the air around us. "Ready?"
"Only plan we have," I said. "See you on the flip side."
This is the plan? Tink asked, sounding doubtful. One of you is going to end up burned.
I edged away from the team, making sure I was conspicuous to the monster. Its head followed my movements. Good. "I go along with your crazy ideas all the time."
They aren"t crazy if they work. She sighed. What do you need from me?
"Other than power?" I glanced at the creature. It took a step in my direction. "Flight. Not yet, but soon."
She groaned. You"ll have to go on less power for now, then.
"Whatever." The beast was actively following me. Will, however, had melted into the trees, nowhere to be seen. We were ready.
"Hey, hothead!" I yelled. "Only you can prevent a forest fire!"
Not funny, Tink snapped. You shouldn"t agitate it.
She was proved right about two seconds later, as the monster tore through the copse like a raging rhinoceros. I had to run hard, using every bit of speed and agility Tink could give me to stay ahead of it. We plowed through the forest, the scent of burning wood following close behind. Every once in a while I"d get a glimpse of water rippling between branches, but the vegetation became a maze, like the very trees were trying to keep me from the lake, and I could never find a path that let me break through.
It wasn"t natural. Something was keeping me from the water"s edge.
The thing"s breath was scalding my back. It had to be only a few feet behind. I didn"t dare take my eyes off the trail for fear I"d crash into a tree trunk and end up trampled and cooked for my trouble. Sweat rolled down my torso and into my eyes, and my ankles ached from cutting and turning.
I ducked a huge branch, wincing when it cracked as the monster pa.s.sed it. No way was a simple tree branch going to knock this thing out, not even one as thick as my thigh. I had to find a way to slow it down.
Up ahead, an ancient spruce fanned out with dozens of low branches and handholds. Water danced behind it. Urging my body into a burst of speed, I leapt onto the lowest branches and scrambled halfway up the trunk. I knew I couldn"t wait around-the monster would drive its shoulder into my tree, tip it over and stomp me where I landed.
In touch with my inner squirrel, I skittered along thick mid-tree branches to jump into a fir, then to another. Beyond them was a clearing that lead down to the water.
The tree shuddered under my feet, and the world shifted as it creaked, then fell. I leapt as hard as I could, landing in a roll. My shoulder shouted in pain, but I forced myself up after getting a split-second glance of the monster only feet away, its head lowered to gore me with its horns.
I pounded toward the lake, screeching like a banshee, and tumbled into the shallows without grace.
The monster followed me.
Not daring to believe my luck, I struck out swimming as hard as I could. The thing howled as its foot sizzled in the water, but it didn"t stop coming. As its fire died out, I caught sight of a black, scaly hide. Even without the ability to roast me whole, it still had weight, horns, claws and teeth.
And it was tall enough that it could touch the bottom of the lake.