Page 7 of Phoenix Fated (The Phoenix Guardians #4)

AIROS

“ R un!” I shout. "Make for a place to hide!"

"There is no place to hide!" Kalistratos shouts back.

Tyler drags the floating core on its rope, and it hovers behind him like a sea anchor.

"They're going for Tim!" he shouts as the insects dive at the core.

"LEAVE TIM!" Kalistratos yells before one of the giant black insects rams into him.

Tyler spins around with his sling and fires a stone that cracks against the beetle's eye.

The creature whirls madly and crashes into the ground with a sparkling, purple fluid gushing from the wound.

The sharp odor we'd smelled fills the air.

He drops the rope. The core is engulfed by the swarm.

"Oh god," Tyler says. "It's the phoenix energy. I think those things are feeding on the phoenix energy from the flyer cores."

The swarm abandons the drained core, swirls into the air, and dives for Kalistratos.

He draws his sword as Tyler loads his sling.

I command a bolt of Gnosis energy to explode at the head of the swarm, and the insects careen off it like rain on a canopy.

They quickly regroup, moving as if with one mind, and head straight for Kalistratos.

"Why me?!"

"You used your powers!" I yell.

"So did you!"

"Not my phoenix powers!" I fire another blast of green magic. "These spells are different."

We clamber up the stairway as I hold them with a shield spell that quickly begins to corrode.

Gnosis magic is greatly limited—it's gleaned from arcane knowledge discovered through research, and there's only so much one can learn from manuals and scrolls.

Its original source is mysterious, even to me, and unlike my phoenix powers, my control over it is tenuous at best.

"There!" Tyler points at a building up ahead constructed into the wall of the gorge.

Its walls and door are intact, and there are no windows.

We throw ourselves inside, just as my shield collapses.

Kalistratos slams the door closed onto the leg of an insect that manages to make it through.

Its wings buzz wildly, bashing Kalistratos's body as he fights to keep the door from bursting open from the swarm battering against it.

Tyler hoists a fallen beam, and with a furious scream, charges with it like a battering ram.

The splintered tip impales the bug through the bottom of its shell, and purple fluid gushes down the wood.

I point my staff and fire a blast of energy that severs its leg at the joint, and though the gap closes, Kalistratos still struggles to hold the door shut as the bugs continue to pelt the building with their bodies.

The sound is earsplitting, like an avalanche.

I run to Tyler's side and help him maneuver the beam to wedge it against the door. Kalistratos stumbles back into Tyler's arms.

"Are you alright?" Tyler asks, touching where the creature's wings have bruised Kalistratos's face.

"Fine," he says, clasping Tyler's hand.

The massive insect twitches on the floor. Its mandibles continue to move, as though it's searching mindlessly for the source of energy it calls food. Its dark eyeballs seem to lock onto Tyler and his egg.

Kalistratos's arm swings in a fast arc, and a throwing knife plunges into the insect's head. The thing finally goes still.

"God, I hate bugs," Tyler groans miserably. "Anyone have any fucking bug spray?"

Kalistratos retrieves his weapon and flicks off the blood. "I think it's clear what happened to our friends here." He picks up a bone from the ground. "These ones were unlucky to have survived the storm."

He begins to scour the room, overturning the furniture looking for another exit. I go to help him, though we both already know there is no other way out—we're up against the cliff. There's nothing but solid rock.

"So what are they?" he asks. "More of Umbrios's pets?"

"His influence is drawing these monsters out from the shadowy places within our realm. The soul reavers, the harpyia, and only the Gods know what else... Provide the right conditions for darkness to thrive, and it will thrive." I crouch beside the insect. "Fascinating."

I hold my staff up to it to make some comparisons, noting that it measures up to over half of it lengthwise, and a quarter of it at its widest point.

The top of its shell is as tough as rock and polished like obsidian.

The underside, its belly, is softer, perhaps similar to tree bark.

I rummage through my waist pouch, pushing aside the small amber piece of harpyia essence to find my emergency wine flask beneath it, now empty.

I uncork it and shake the last few drops into my mouth before scooping a little of the creature's glimmering blood into it. Tyler's face crinkles.

"Nasty," he says. "What are you doing?"

"Collecting knowledge," I reply.

Suddenly, a piece in the middle of the door explodes into splinters, and the open gap fills with gnashing mandibles, clicking and scraping against the creaking beam. Kalistratos thrusts his sword through the hole, but the insect that falls away is instantly replaced by another.

"Perhaps we leave the knowledge collecting for another time?" he yells.

"Aw, fuck ," Tyler says. "The only way out of here is through them, and we can't outrun that swarm."

"No, we can't," I say.

There's an idea forming in my head.

Kalistratos slashes the mandibles off another bug. The door shudders and pops as it fractures down its center. Flashes of sunlight slice through.

"Not much time left!" he shouts.

"Tyler? Are you still able to feel where Jackson is? Can you take us in his direction?"

Tyler looks at me, then closes his eyes.

And as he attunes to his powers, the swarm reacts.

Pieces of the door explode off. Kalistratos slashes furiously, hacking away the parts that push through.

One of the creatures manages to grab his sword arm, and with an angry shout he slices the mandibles off with an upward swing of his knife.

Tyler opens his eyes. "Yes, I can feel him."

"Good. Then there's only one thing we can do. You said it yourself. The only way out of here is through them."

"Fly?" roars Kalistratos in disbelief. "In phoenix form, they'll never stop chasing us!"

"Exactly," I reply.

His eyes narrow as he grasps what I'm hoping to accomplish.

" Cheesus. With two days ahead of us, I hope to the Gods you have that kind of stamina."

"Perhaps you want to make it a competition?" I say with a grin. "See who can last the longest?"

"Jesus, you guys are so gay for each other sometimes," Tyler says. He snaps his fingers. "Let's go."

"I'll clear our exit," I say.

Kalistratos crouches down. "Tyler, get on my back."

My phoenix powers extend out to the surrounding cliffside and take hold of the rock. The skeletons around us fall apart as everything begins to shudder violently.

"On my signal," I say. "GO!"

Kalistratos and I dash toward the door, and with a surge of my power the wall and cliff face rip apart and explode outward into a million shards of stone that tear a hole through the swarm.

We leap through and shift into phoenix form, swirling to catch the wind whipping through the gorge, and soar up towards the open sky.

The swarm whirls in confusion as hundreds of the insects fall from their wounds and smash against the sharp rocks below or plunge into the churning waves.

It moves like a massive black waterspout, turning and writhing in the air, then recollects itself and shoots after us with incredible speed.

Tyler points the way, and we fly knowing that if we slow down even just a little, we'll all be bug food.