Chapter 27

27

" W e're not in the Keweenaw Peninsula anymore, Toto," Ali said.

"Holy Tolkien on a stick," Poppy muttered. "Are we tripping on something? Maybe the tunnel had some psychedelic mushrooms and we accidentally released the spoors and inhaled them. That's one hypothesis for the Salem Witch Trials, by the way. Saw it in a documentary."

Rory's head swiveled as he took in everything. "This is from the book."

"Explain." Kade's fangs had dropped and he looked like he'd shift at any moment.

"It's toward the end. When Cozhul—the evil druid—marched on the elves' stronghold. It was their last stand. They were losing badly until Eimeret—the last dragon rider of the House of Olen'ne—calls Azorius to him and they take to the sky to defeat Cozhul.

"So we're in the novel?" Well, damn, guess I should have prioritized reading it.

"I . . . I don't think so." Rory took a step, but Alistair pulled him back.

"It's not safe." Ali's eyes had gone fiery red again.

"Agreed," Kade said. "We need to move back into the tunnel. "Humans first. And Teremie."

Poppy and I retreated, but Rory didn't budge. Alistair gave him a less-than-gentle nudge which earned him one of Rory's death glares. Once Rory got moving Ali and Kade brought up the rear. We reached the junction with the other tunnel and stepped through. Instead of the tunnel we stood under a cloudless night sky, the sound of dogs braying, and spotlights on the ground and from a helicopter above scanning the area around us.

Ali pointed. "The abandoned mining town."

"This has officially hit Twilight Zone levels of weird." Poppy whispered.

"Are we sure this our world?" I didn't want to end up in yet another place.

Kade kept his nose in the air and scanned our surroundings as we crept toward the town. "It smells like home."

"I agree." Ali nodded.

The squawk of a walkie-talkie nearby had us all jumping. A older police officer stepped from behind a building and startled when he saw us.

"I've found them," he said into his device.

We were grilled throughout the night. Everyone wanted to know where we'd disappeared to and we had no good answers. We couldn't exactly say we'd ended up in a different world or realm, or whatever. I did hand over Matt's watch, saying we found it near one of the buildings because I didn't want to send anyone into the tunnel. They clearly didn't believe our lack of a story and accused us of pulling a PR stunt. I wished that were the case.

By the time we finished, dawn had arrived and Jabril had the Camp Smudgy bus waiting to take us back to our cabins. The bus pulled into the ski resort, but didn't take us to our cabins, veering off and pulling in near the makeup and wardrobe tents.

"You have to be fucking kidding me?" Ali said to the driver.

"Bosses order. Says today's the big finale."

We weren't the only bus in the lot. Other school buses were offloading hundreds of extras from local high schools and Michigan Tech. Church vans, SUVs, ATVs, pulled in to the lot. Jabril's army.

We were cleaned up in record time and sent behind the battlements where camera and sound operators were doing last minutes checks, and extras milled, waiting for the filming to start. I still didn't see the actor they'd pegged to play Cozhul.

As the minutes ticked past, more and more elves began to appear. At first I thought they were all the extras, but when a whole company winked out of existence and then reappeared, my stomach knotted.

"Look," Poppy said under her breath and nodded toward the sky. Those weird inky clouds spread across the horizon. They didn't disappear.

"Just like in the book." Rory sounded a little too giddy.

"I don't want to be in a novel." I tried to remember the ending. "The elf and his dragon live, right? Evil's vanquished and all that?"

"Uh-huh." Rory spun in a circle taking it all in.

Jabril stood on top of the battlements, a bullhorn in hand. He shouted instructions and a production assistant ran up to us and directed us to move onto one of the towers, cameras surrounding it.

You could barely hear the drone cameras. Jabril went all out for this one. On the way to the tower, extras called to us and we shook as many hands as possible. We climbed to the top of the tower and it presented an impressive view of the fields below.

The smell of ozone, cloying flora, and blood blew across our battlefield. A few of the extras complained, while others thought it was a cool effect.

In the distance, drums sounded. Ours?

The sky swirled with the spidery clouds and an orange glow spread.

Kade pointed in the distance. "Look."

I saw it. And so did Ali if his cursing was any kind of clue. Trees that seemed to sway like they were being rocked in a powerful wind.

"What do you see?" Rory stared into the distance.

"I don't see anything, either," Poppy shielded her eyes with her hand.

The trees rocked, the drums growing louder.

And then the forest began to fall. Just like the straight line wind, only it wasn't wind.

"Ah, hell. Now I see." Poppy swallowed.

An army. Not just any army. Tens of thousands. Goblins, ghouls, and what I could only think of as ogres. Ravens took to the skies, merging with the black spidery clouds, only to dive and transform into harpies.

A murmur of worry rose from pockets of extras.

"Sweet! This is so real looking," I heard one extra shout. Others didn't sound as enthused. Had Jabril brought them here to be lambs to slaughter? He still stood on the battlements directing one of the film crews on a tower.

Forest creatures began spilling from the woods. But they weren't running away from the oncoming army. They were . . . organizing. Eagles transformed to gryphons, and while owls and hawks turned into hippogryphs. Deer became centaurs, and coyotes and foxes became three headed dogs. In the front of them all, Old George, his antlers alight with fire.

A production assistant hurried by, handing out prop weapons to some of the extras.

I snagged her attention. "Where are our scripts?"

"Mr. Jabril said you wouldn't use any, that he trusts you to do what's needed."

Kade and I traded glances. That didn't make sense. I wasn't a dragon rider and Kade wasn't a dragon. How were we supposed to know what to do? Poppy shouldn't even be part of this scene if we were going from the book.

Pulling out the coin, I tossed it in the air. It landed on the edge and didn't tip to either side. How was that possible? I snatched it up and did it again. Same result. A third time and it rolled off the battlements into the grass below.

The drums grew ever louder, booming over the field, followed by the low sound of thousands of marching feet.

"When did that show up?" Kade pointed up the mountain where a castle now sat at the top. Companies of elves ran by with bow and arrows and lined the battlements. These weren't extras, their faces determined, and movements fluid. No human moved like that. Like me.

Fuck, I really was an elf. Even their features resembled mine.

Ali linked fingers with Poppy on one side and Rory on the other. "I will protect you with my life. You have my word."

Both nodded, and for the first time since all this started Rory looked more scared than fascinated.

I leaned into Rory, and told him what had happened with the coin. His eyes widened. "It's gone?"

"I don't know. What do I do? How can we be a part of this story?" I waved my hand at the extras and the real elves. "Shouldn't there be a real prince and his dragon? We're just actors."

The marching picked up pace, a single terrifying beat. Siege engines came next, pushed by thirty-foot-tall creatures. Ogres? Most terrifying of all, a slowly moving black tree, it's branches gnarled and those weird vines spreading out like roots from its trunk, pulling toward us. It towered over the army, it's trunk the width of a school. Hundreds of harpies sat among its branches.

"The World Ender," Rory breathed. He pointed to a lone figure almost hidden among the thorns and crystal flowers. "Cozhul."

Kade swallowed. "That's not David Tennant."

And then the sickening realization of who it actually was. Matt. But not the Matt I knew. His face frozen in terror, his jaw stretched and unhinged like a large snake's, overlaying a featureless form that seemed to swirl within his skin.

The drums and marching stopped all at once, creating a deafening silence across the field. A voice like a wisp of nightmare slipped inside our heads.

"Send out the last welp of the House of Olen'ne, and I shall make your deaths merciful. Give him to me."

"Fuck you!" an extra called and shot an arrow from the battlement, before turning and mooning the oncoming army. Jabril gave an enthusiastic thumbs up from the tower above.

"Very well," the voice said, laughter as it withdrew from our heads.

Then came the roar, like a roll of thunder. They charged. Extras grabbed their bows and arrows and released their arrows upon command, the true elves a fluid force, but vastly outnumbered.

The transformed forest animals, met the oncoming army, tearing with beak and claw. Too few. And soon swallowed among the overwhelming mass. The goblins crashed against the ramparts below and ladders swung up from the ground as the defenders fired their arrows, and others shoved the ladders over, even as new ones sprung up faster than they could keep up. Ali and Kade used their speed and strength to help with the ladders while I joined the elves, snagging arrows from the quivers of fallen comrades. My aim remained true, felling foe after foe. We didn't have enough arrows to take out this force.

A black root shot from the horde and slithered up the wall and wrapped around the tower.

"Get out of the tower!" Ali clutched Poppy, and made a grab for Rory.

"No, wait!" Rory dodged, as Ali and Poppy disappeared down the stairwell to the lower levels. "Teremie, I know what this is! It's not a novel. It's a prophesy . Two worlds. They're converging for the Solstice. It's the only way he could reach you. Today is the day you—"

The root yanked and the tower started to creak and groan. The vine wrapped itself around and around like a snake choking its victim, the stairways blocked. Another creak and the tower toppled and splintered.

"Rory!" I grabbed him as the wood blew apart, and jumped. I tumbled and tried to cushion our fall as we landed on a pyre of bodies, halfway up the wall. We flipped and rolled and struck the bottom. I snagged a shield and hefted it over us as a goblin swung its sword. Metal clanged with metal and sent pain shooting up my shoulder. I reached out through my link and felt Kade's presence. Alive. Could feel his attempt to make his way to us. He rode on Fio's back, racing toward me, cutting through anyone in his way. But there were too many.

The terrified neigh of a horse. And then two goblins fell at my feet and I knew without a doubt Bruce had just saved my life.

"Run, Bruce. Run!"

I deflected another blow. A vine wrapped around my ankle and I kicked out. Couldn't dislodge it. It dragged me off Rory, a spreading pool of blood beneath him, a wooden stake through his back and jutting out his belly.

No! I swung my shield wildly, severing the vine only for another to grab my calf.

"The c-coin. K-key." Rory gripped my forearm. "C-call y-your dragon, son of Olen'ne. M-Make m-me proud."

"Rory!" I screamed as another vine wrapped around me, and he let go.

A hiss like a cat sounded above me, and Alistair appeared beside Rory. He beheaded the goblins nearest Rory. He looked between us, anguish on every feature.

"Save Rory!" I pleaded, even as the vines yanked me like a ragdoll through the masses and toward the tree. I didn't resist, the vines wrapping around me, immobilizing my legs and one of my arms. I clenched my other fist and held it over my head, sent a burst of love through my bond. Rage echoed back and determination. But a wolf was no match for an army.

We'd cleared the majority of the battle, the giant tree looming, the creature that wore Matt's face swirling, making his skin expand and contract.

As I was pulled nearly to the base of the tree, one of the wines tore my tunic apart, and the evil druid, nodded.

"You bear the mark," its spine-chilling voice echoing in my head.

My birth mark. I'd never considered . . .

"Unfortunately for you, there are no more dragons," the eerie voice continued. "And only one mewling princeling left."

And then I felt it. Kade falter. He'd been hurt. A tear rolled down my cheek. Not for my death, but for what I knew would be his, since I'd failed him.

The vines began to squeeze, and like the tower my bones creaked and would soon give way. Clear he played with me and could have ended me at any time.

A vine grabbed my free arm and roped that to the ground next to my face. With no freedom of movement, my fist fell open with the next bone breaking squeeze. I shouted, the agony enough to make me wish for a quick death.

The coin sat in my palm. Dragon side up.

The druid shrunk back, and it gave me the second I needed. "I call forth my dragon."

My voice was weak from lack of air, but my carried and rose on a stream of air, carrying it across the battlefield. Everything seemed to slow down. My birthmark burned, and a howl reverberated growing louder like a wave. Not a wolf's call, but a dragon's. Kade burst from the army and shot into the sky, his scales a beautiful copper.

He bellowed and fire engulfed the field, burning everything in its path.

"It's impossible." The druid reached out a hand and the vines tightened.

This was it. Kade was still too far away.

He shot forward, his fire in front and it skipped through the field until it struck the one of the tree's central branches. They turned to ash. The tree shuddered and the vines let go. It moved backward, the druid shrieking at it to stay in place. I rolled, and then crawled, trying to reach Kade. In the meantime, creatures burned. A goblin ran up to me and lifted his sword, but the fire jumped to him and he screamed, he toppled, turning to ash. Kade raced toward me, scooping me in a talon and soaring toward the sky.

The tree made an attempt to swat him from the air, but he dodged and spit fire, lighting another section on fire. And then he dropped me. I didn't have the energy to scream. Besides, I knew he'd never let me fall. He swooped under me and I landed on his back, knocking the breath from me. I held on. He banked to the left, dodging a slew of harpies.

He rose and sent a burst of strength through our bond. It reverberated through us and I sat up, the pain receding with each second.

‘Vengeance is ours' came through the link. I whooped. I may hate heights, but being on a dragon was like riding a sky horse. And Kade would never let go.

He circled back, making short work of the harpies and chasing the retreating tree. The sun sat at its zenith. And that was when this would end. Now I understood. The two worlds perfectly overlapped.

We chased the tree and Kade sent his fire in an arc. The branches caught fire. Kade dodged as it flailed and tried to swat us from the air. Never happen. Not with my dragon.

Kade continued his assault until the branches burned and fire raced down the trunk. It turned to ash, from the top down. Everything crumbling away. A druid couldn't survive without their tree.

"Get its roots!"

Kade struck again and again. And when the tree was one big ash pile, swooped low to the ground and I hopped off. I pulled a sword from a dead goblin and kicked at the ash until I'd uncovered the dying druid. It gasped, trying to drag itself away.

"Unlike you, I believe in merciful deaths." And I shoved the sword straight through its chest. It went still. A boom of sound spread in all directions on the battlefield. I yanked the blade free.

And just like the worlds separated with a jolt.

I looked around. The field was just a field. The castle gone, and the battlements ruined.

"Cut!" Jabril called from behind me.