Descending (The Rising Series) (29 page)

S
he tried to ask him what he was going to do, but it came out in an incoherent mumble.

He pulled her in for a crushing kiss. She couldn’t feel a thing—stupid, slimy Novocain. As he pulled away, he smiled. “I’m just going to keep the
Ketea busy.”

He raised an eyebrow. “
You know, next time I kiss you, it’d be nice if you’d kiss me back.”

She tried to
frown and had no idea if she’d succeeded.

Looking back, s
he saw it wasn’t giant snakes entering the arena, but the tentacles of a giant creature with a head the size of a commuter bus. It emerged, its bulging, black eyes searching for prey.
You’re going to keep that busy?

“Don’t worry,” he said. “This is child’s play. Gotta go
.” He shot through the water, heading straight for the beast.

Gretchen
didn’t know what kind of childhood he had, but it couldn’t have been a good one.

She
couldn’t take her eyes off Kyros or the beast. The creature turned its body over to reveal a gaping mouth with giant, snapping jaws. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she could hear voices calling her name, but she couldn’t possibly take her eyes off Kyros while he battled for his life.

He raced around the creature, slicing at its tentacle arms. The sword was so small in comparison to the creature
that each slice looked like a mere paper cut. The Ketea swung its arms at him, pounding the ground, slamming the coliseum cage walls, missing him by inches each time. Finally, Kyros seemed to recover his desire to survive the battle. He swam away. But then he turned and raced straight toward the creature. Gretchen screamed as he reached the gaping mouth. The jaws snapped down, and he was gone.

He was gone. The creature had eaten him.

“Gretchen, come on. You’ve got to get out of there.” She could hear Drakōn, shouting at her.

She looked up to see the monster bearing down on her.
Then it hit her, she was about to die. She shook off her stupor and raced away. Drakōn’s face showed through a window at the back door. She reached him as the beast slammed her against the door. Her head rang and everything dimmed. She fought to stay conscious. The door rumbled and finally opened, spilling her into Drakōn’s arms.

Kyros is
dead.
She wanted to scream.
He’s gone
. But her thick tongue wouldn’t let the words through. Drakōn pulled her away. They shut the entrance and turned to her. An earth-shattering crash came from the door. It looked like the beast still wanted a taste of her.

As the others drew their swords and took position around the
door, watching the beast through the netted wall, Gretchen searched for a weapon of her own. She spotted a sword propped against a wall. She grabbed it and waited alongside the others. The next time the beast hit the door, it broke open. She rushed forward, but Pallas caught her by the tail and pulled her back. “You don’t want to do that. Don’t worry. He’ll be out soon.”

She frowned at what he said.
He’ll be out soon?
The creature thrashed around. It gave an eerie wail as it hit the side of the cage. It swam and slammed into the other side—bouncing against the coliseum walls. Finally, it hit the sea floor, twitching several times before its tentacles sank to the floor. He lay still, unmoving. The beast looked… dead.

One of the creatures eyes bulged as a tip of a blade came through. The eye came out completely, followed by Kyros. Gretchen met his
gaze through a cloud of blood.

She
dropped her sword and swam to Kyros so fast. If he’d been any smaller, she’d have plowed him over. He wrapped his arms around her as she sobbed.

“I told you I’d be fine.” He pulled away, smiling. “Like I said
—child’s play.”

There was so much she wanted to tell him, like he’d
better never do anything as stupid as that again or if that was his kind of child’s play, he must have had cruel parents. But she still couldn’t speak—her mouth was tingling, though. She hoped that meant she’d get use of her voice again soon.

“Now let’s go see if Xanthus has figured how to get us safely out of here
.”

Gretchen could hear the angry crowds above.
Right.
Getting out of here in one piece would take a miracle. She looked around to figure out where they were—in some kind of jail. Cells lined either sides of the room. The doors were sitting propped against a wall. Someone knew a little something about removing them. The bodies of dead guards floated in them.

Looking around, she
said, “Bere’s Saba an Xanbus?”

Kyros smiled. “What is that stuff they fed you? You sound ridiculous.”

She punched him in the arm and frowned.

Kyros turned to Straton. “Where’s Sara and Xanthus?”

“Xanthus left with Sara.”

“Left?”

“You don’t want to know.”

All hints of amusement left Kyros’s face. “Tell me.”

“That stuff they fed Gretchen didn’t work on Sara, so they knocked her unconscious.”

“They struck her? Oh gods, how did Xanthus react?”

“How do you think?”

“I can guess. So he
took her away and left us to deal with the aftermath of his rampage?”

“I’m sure he’ll be back.”

“Well, unless he brings an army with him, it won’t do much good. Did you see that angry crowd?”

“That’s why we’re locked in here and not out there.”

A thunderous crash shook the door.

“They’re trying to get in
,” Pallas said.

Another slam.

“Sounds like they’re succeeding.” Drakōn scowled.

At the next deafening blow, the door cracked.

“Is everyone armed?” Kyros shouted.

“Oh yeah
.” Straton smirked and gestured to the dead soldiers floating in the cells. “The guards here were generous enough to let us use their weapons.”

“B
e ready,” Kyros said. “Our objective is
not
to fight, but defend. Our goal is escape. If we are separated, we’ll meet up five miles due south of our final destination.”

Grunts of agreement filled the water just before the door smashed open. Drakōn let out a shrill battle cry as he swam full speed toward the open door, his spear leading the way. The other
s quickly followed, not wanting to be trapped inside.

They
pushed their way into the center of trained soldiers. The clash of metal and the roar of angry men filled the sea. Gretchen had her sword ready, but Kyros didn’t give her a chance to use it. He wouldn’t let anyone close to her.

He swung, sliced, dismembered
, and moved forward. Turning, he swam straight at her. He passed her by—his body brushing across her arm and his fin scraping her skin.

She turned to see him block the strike coming at her from behind. Kyros’s blade fluidly blocked, swept
back, and returned, slicing off the Dagonian’s head with no effort. It spun away, floating through the water. Gretchen covered her mouth as her stomach threatened to heave.

T
wo more came from either side. Gretchen took the one closest to her and raised her sword. She hadn’t had much training with one. Most of the stuff her sensei covered was bare hand to hand. But she knew the basics of handling a weapon. A weapon in your hand was simply an extension of your arm.

The Dagonian narrowed his eyes and grinned at her—confident
, too confident. He jabbed straight at her. She parried the blade, slammed her elbow into the Dagonian’s nose, and followed with her sword, slicing it deep into his neck. He was dead a moment later. She turned away, unwilling to dwell on the fact that she’d just killed a man. She’d probably need hours of therapy later, but for now, survival was paramount.

She
turned back to see how Kyros was handling his own attacker. The Dagonian that had gone after him was already dead, and Kyros was looking at her—his eyes bright with pride and relief.

And then there were four.

Kyros flew to her side. “We need to fight back to back.”

She nodded—familiar with the tactic.

Gretchen fought like she’d never fought before. She’d always had fun training. Learning defense, offense, block, parry, nerve strikes—it was all fun and games. But nothing could have prepared her for how she’d feel in a real battle—the adrenaline pulsing through her veins, the desperate need to survive. Together, she and Kyros made short work of the four soldiers.

T
hen there were eight. Gretchen knew they were in trouble. These eight were fresh, their eyes bright. They’d simply been waiting their turn while Gretchen and Kyros fought. She was tiring. Her blade felt heavier with each swing. She didn’t know how Kyros was holding up—probably much better than she was. But he needed his back protected. And the way she was faltering, she didn’t think she’d be able to help him much longer.

Two men rushed
Kyros, and he met them in a dance of death. He’d block one strike with the sword in one hand and another with the sword in his other, back and forth between the two. All the while Gretchen fought her own attacker. He dropped his blade down toward her head as she lifted her sword to block. His hand clamped around her throat.

She darted a glance to Kyros. He’d gained a third attacker on top of the two he’d already been fighting. He couldn’t help her.

“This is the end of you, little mermaid,” the Dagonian snarled inches from her face as she felt his blade press against her belly. And like an angel from above, a large bull shark descended and chomped down over her attacker’s head. He shook his prey, severed the head clean off, and swallowed.

I
t circled her, caressing her body with his rough skin. “Thank you, friend,” she sighed in relief as she reached out and hugged him. “You saved my life.”

Movement came from
the south. Like a flock of vultures ascending from the depths, thousands of sharks rose from the trench. Sara rode on the back of an enormous great white and Xanthus swam out in front, leading the way. And just like that, the battle was over.

Dagonians
fled in fear. The ones who didn’t escape quickly enough were finding themselves in the jaws of the mighty predators. Gretchen rushed to Kyros’s side. “I need to gather the others. I’d hate to have any of you attacked by accident.”

“It looks like Xanthus and Sara beat you to it.”

Pallas, Straton, Drakōn, and Amar were being circled by Xanthus and Sara.

“I guess shark is permanently off my menu.” Kyros didn’t sound too happy about it.

“Oh, they’re terribly bad for you anyway,” Gretchen said.

“Right.” He frowned, shaking his head. “Come on. It’s time to go.”

They left with the sharks at their backs. The city would have a lot of cleaning up to do.

Kyros pulled
Gretchen to his chest and swam.

“You know I can swim, don’t you?” she asked.

“Gretchen, you look exhausted. You’ll need your strength.”

“And you don’t?”

“I’m fine. This day has not been half as exhausting as a full day of training.”

Gretchen shook her head and laid her head against his chest. “I don’t envy your life, Kyros.” She closed her eyes and relaxed in his arms.

Sometime later, Gretchen awoke to some of the most dramatic underwater seascapes she’d ever seen. High, stone columns towered around them, spouting bubbles of hot steam. There were hundreds of them. It looked like an undersea redwood forest. The darkness deepened as they swam deeper into the pillars. The water there grew stifling hot.

“Have you seen anything like this before?”
she asked Kyros.

He frowned and shook his head. Gretchen couldn’t help but wonder what they
would do if the water got too hot to breathe. She brushed her fingers behind her ears, over her gills. They already seemed singed around the edges.

They kept to the sea floor where the water was
cooler. Just as Gretchen was about to suggest they go back and try to swim around the forest, the water began to cool.

“I’m thinking it might have been better to
have gone back and chartered a boat,” she said.

“We don’t need a boat
,” Kyros huffed.

“I
guess
not.”

The darkness lifted as the forest thinned.
Finally, they were out. The water felt so good and cool against her skin. Gretchen looked over at Sara. She had a nasty, purple bruise over her right eye. She probably had a splitting headache from it. Xanthus cradled her against his chest, stroking her hair.

“
Are we going to stop and rest, or are we almost there?” Gretchen asked, frowning at her injured friend.

“
Yes, we’ll rest,” Kyros answered. “We’re almost to the outer perimeter. The others are scouting out ahead to get the layout of the terrain.”