Chapter Nine

"Holly, you truly have no idea how glad I am to see you!" Artemis exclaimed in relief, dusting his knees and elbows off. "A sight for sore eyes, you are!"

"This isn't the time for that!" Neala intervened as Holly started to speak. "We need to get out of here before those idiots wake up from their dazed stupor." She turned to Butler and spoke quickly. "I'm going to hold onto your wrists – It would be much appreciated if you didn't kill me."

Butler stepped back. "What do you think you're doing?" He demanded, pulling his wrists away from her.

"I've already told you – I'm getting us out of here. I'm obviously the only one strong enough to carry you between me and the fairy, and Skulduggery has his own freeloader to deal with." She held her palms out expectantly. "Now we don't have much time. Lower Elements weapons will only work on Dryuds and vampires for so long." Over her shoulder, to Holly, she said: "And I don't recommend relying on those for too much longer; those boneheads are bound to become immune to it soon enough."

Holly landed on the grass in front of Artemis. "Come on, then – Let's hook you up to the Moonbelt."

Artemis glanced around the clearing. Skulduggery and Valkyrie were already gone, Caoilainn and Aine were slowly getting up and Neala had Butler held tightly in her grip. "Where are we going?" Artemis asked Holly as she hooked him securely onto her Moonbelt.

"Anywhere but here, preferably." Holly still had her helmet on, so Artemis could have been mistaken… But she sounded a bit angry. Then again, she always sounds angry, so I suppose it's a good thing. Artemis thought to himself. Continuity is a wonderful thing.

"Ready, fairy?" Neala asked impatiently.

"You know my name, it has been said." Holly snarked. "And… yes." She added stubbornly.

"We're not on a first name basis," Neala growled simply before something happened – Something extraordinary. Wings, of all things unfurled from Neala's back. To Artemis, they almost looked like they belonged to a Marabou Stork. "Let's get these morons to safety and deal with the losers." She seemed to order to Holly before the large, strong wings pumped swiftly and she lifted off the grass, still gripping Butler tightly. The bodyguard had opened his mouth to protest, but was quickly jerked off his feet and left dangling in the air. Obviously, this was no time for second-thoughts.

"Wings…?" Artemis breathed, watching Neala twist through the air, swinging Butler dangerously below her.

"Big whoop," Holly muttered, starting up her wings. "I have wings too."

"But—" Artemis was cut off by a violent jerk as Holly shot away from the ground, quickly gaining speed and catching up to Neala. "A subtle change in subject might have been nicer," Artemis called, his raven-black hair whipping out of its place slicked to his scalp. Holly hadn't put on the shield yet, so now was his time to talk. After a moment of her awkwardly ignoring him and Artemis trying to think of something to say during this near-death experience, the youth finally managed to shout over the wind. "Thank you for coming. And, you know… not shooting me. Or the living skeleton. That last part was especially nice of you."

"Were you even thinking when you came out here?" Holly demanded, ignoring him yet again. "Do you understand what you've gotten yourself – what you've gotten me – into?"

"I'm beginning to, yes."

Holly shook her head angrily. "For someone so incredibly smart, you're so incredibly dense." Before Artemis could argue, she called to Neala. "Watch your six! She's coming in fast!"

Artemis glanced behind them only to feel his heart skip a beat. Caoilainn had her own pair of Marabou Stork wings, which were pumping quickly. Her arms were outstretched and her long, claw-like nails were threatening to dig into Artemis' toes. "Hey, Holly? If you could avoid letting my body become a scratching post for a giant bird-cat, that would be splendid!"

Despite their previous arguments, Holly would never let something happen to Artemis maliciously. The wings soon picked up a noticeable amount of speed and, soon enough, they were a few feet in front of Neala and Butler. "Where are we going?" Holly demanded of Neala.

"Not sure," Neala was justifiably distracted, trying to kick at Caoilainn while keeping level. "I have a funny feeling that we won't get anywhere without dealing with Tweedle Dee, here." Caoilainn's lips contorted into and angry snarl, her sharp teeth glinting in the setting sun. "Get the kid somewhere safe – We'll deal with Caoilainn when you get back."

"We?" Butler looked up at Neala with wide eyes. "When did we agree on that?"

"When you agreed to follow that kid all the way out here!" Neala snapped, then to Holly: "Get him to safety!" The Dryud's wings pumped harder and she was soon passing Holly, who was evidentially having some issues with being ordered around by a Neala.

A sharp pain shot up Artemis' left leg, forcing him to let out a yelp of pain. It felt like Holly was slowing down – But it truly didn't take long for Artemis to realize what was really happening. Caoilainn had Artemis by the ankle, her nails digging fairly deep into his flesh. "Holly!" He cringed, kicking at Caoilainn's face with his free foot. The Dryud ignored it, undeterred by a human's futile attempts to free itself. She brought her other hand down onto his calf, making him gasp sharply again. "Holly!" Artemis spat in pain, still trying to kick at Caoilainn. "Holly, she's using me as a bloody rope!" He exclaimed.

Almost as soon as he'd spoken, Caoilainn let go of his ankle and dug her nails into his thigh. Before Artemis could even react to it, he watched a shockingly bright light slam into Caoilainn's face. Immediately, she let go of Artemis' leg and went tumbling through the air in a ball of feathers and blonde hair.

Pressing his hands onto the wound on his thigh, Artemis muttered under his breath and trough ground teeth: "Thanks… I think…" Holly said nothing and holstered her Nutrino Blaster.

But they were still slowing down. "What's going on?" Artemis demanded as they sunk towards the tree tops.

"I don't know," Holly was trying to stay calm. "My wings are either malfunctioning or that freak damaged them… Either way, I can't fix it in the air." There was a slight pause before she said: "You might want to curl into a ball or something; we're in for a very crashy ride."

Before Artemis had the chance to even try to curl up in the fetal position, a full frontal attack of leaves, twigs and branches bombarded upon him. He lifted his arms in front of his face, trying desperately hard to protect his eyes, though it left the rest of his body exposed. He heard the sound of his blazer tearing, evidently caught on a particularly stubborn branch. His pants tore, too – Luckily, it was nowhere that could prove to create an awkward moment in any social convention.

A thick branch hit him square in the chest, smacking the breath right out of him and possibly fracturing a rib. Not too long after, the same thing happened to him again and then to Holly, who only let out a grunt of pain. Artemis felt Holly unstrapping him from the belt as they fell – That was possibly the one thing that prevented him from breaking any bones when they hit the ground.

Before he knew it, the forest floor was right there, barely five feet away from them. By then, it was too late to react.

They both hit the ground with a considerable impact and rolled across the dusty dirt and grass. Artemis hit a tree and Holly rolled to a stop on her own.

"Oh, sweet Frond…" Holly moaned in pain, pulling her helmet off and tossing it to the ground. Twigs, small branches and leaves fell after them. "I am not doing that again…" She muttered, shaking her auburn hair back into place.

Artemis rolled onto his back, holding his arms over his chest in pain. "I feel like I just went ten rounds in a cage match with a bear…" He breathed, still trying to capture his breath.

"So much for getting you to safety," Holly got to her feet, using a tree to stay upright. "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine, I think…"

"You look ridiculous…" Holly unlatched the wings and set them on the ground before somehow making her way over to Artemis. "I mean, really." She held out her hand for him.

"I just managed to fall through a thick forest without spearing myself on a tree branch," Artemis muttered, taking her hand and letting her pull him to his feet. "Honestly? I could care less about how I look, right now." He cringed in pain. "Yep… Definitely fractured a rib…" He nodded to her wings. "Can you fix them?"

"I can try, but it might take some time… and I'm not entirely sure on the amount of time we actually have, right now." Holly was already back to her wings, sitting down with them in her hands. "It looks like she got at them with those freakishly long nails of hers…"

Artemis pulled his blazer off walked over to where Holly sat, joining her on the forest floor. "She got at my leg with them, too." He pulled his left pant leg up, revealing three separate sets of gouges that leaked scarlet liquid. He tore at the blazer, creating strips of cloth which he tied around the wounds. It was already torn beyond aesthetic use – No point in wasting a perfectly good bandaging resource when he needed it.

"Any ideas?"

Artemis looked up from his leg. "Pardon?" He asked as innocently as he could.

Irritably, Holly repeated herself. "Any ideas?" She didn't look up from her wings. "On how to stop that Dryud and get Mud Mountain back?" When Artemis didn't answer, Holly sighed and looked at him incredulously. "Come on, I know you have something. The world would have to be ending for you to not have any ideas… And even then…"

"Well…" Artemis pulled his pant leg down, satisfied that his makeshift bandages were to-the-book. "I do have one idea…"

"Hold on a second, will you?" Butler yelled up to Neala, feeling only a little bit ill from all the twists and turns they were making. "What about Artemis? Are we just going to leave him back there?"

"If you wanna live to see him another day, you should probably stop questioning me!" Neala retorted, jerking out of Caoilainn's way. "He'll be fine – We need to worry about our own lives, right now." She had barely broken a sweat, but she was still seemingly having some issues. "Can you get to your guns?"

"Can you hold me with one hand?"

"Do you want to test it?"

"Then the answer you're looking for is 'no'."

Butler heard a whistling as Caoilainn's nails whizzed past his ear. "Whoa!" He jerked his body to the side, pulling Neala that direction, too. "Too close of a call, for me! Can we go any faster on this ride?"

"Not with you on board, big guy!" Neala shot a kick at Caoilainn, actually managing to hit her in the gut. The smaller Dryud fell behind them a few feet, giving Butler just enough room to land his own kick on the girl's face.

Caoilainn suddenly let out a grunt that was a mixture between surprise and pain. She craned her head to look over her shoulder, refusing to slow her pace. Neala mirrored her and Butler lifted his chin to look around the mass of feathers.

A slim LEP soldier was just behind Caoilainn, one arm extended and gripping a Nutrino Blaster tightly. They were jetting through the air uniformly, their legs together, their toes pointed, their free arm tucked to their side. "Are you OK, Mud Mountain?" The soldier yelled just loud enough to be heard. Butler recognized the voice as Trouble Kelp.

"I am," Butler called back, relieved to hear a familiar voice.

"Good," Was all Trouble answered with before pulling the trigger on the Nutrino Blaster repeatedly, not missing a single shot. Caoilainn bucked with each shot, falling more and more behind. Eventually, Trouble was given enough leeway to catch up to Neala. "I'll take it from here, Dryud." The fairy ordered sharply. "I'm going to hook him onto my Moonbelt – It's obvious that she's trying to get to you, so I'll leave you two to duke things out."

"Go for it, little man." Neala didn't even try to argue. "Make it quick."

Trouble lowered himself to Butler's level, expertly hooking him onto his Moonbelt. When he was satisfied that the bodyguard wouldn't fall to his gruesome and untimely death, he called for Neala to let go.

Trouble lowered a bit under Butler's weight when Neala did let get, but regained his height and speed, turning around and abandoning the Dryuds.

"Did Holly send you?" Butler called over the wind, far too relieved to see the soldier.

"No," Trouble was perfectly on target, not swerving in the slightest or letting anything distract him. "It wasn't Holly. It was Artemis."