Author's Note: Before I start the chapter, I would like to thank 14athomas for the support. Recently I asked for help with names for three Riders, one female and two male. 14athomas gave me the female's name and other info about her. All credit for this character and her dragon goes to 14athomas. Thnx.

Chapter 9

Morbid retreats

The small group proceeded through the almost barren end of the city, most of the action occurring at the city's center as the enemy soldiers fought to capture the castle. They strived to stay hidden from Arnes who flapped high above the city keeping an eye over the battle. Already fearless soldiers attacked the dragon from the tops of buildings with bows and arrows. Arnes easily ceased their attack by destroying the buildings with a single swipe of his tail, killing the soldiers atop it.

Adam stealthily led the group through each street as if he had mapped out where to go, without enemy resistance. They made good time and eventually reached the secret entrance, the city's cathedral.

The large church was distinguished by its tall, thick bell tower which was supported by four flying buttresses that extended from the ground up to the base of the tower. Its round-headed arches, and bold tiers of arcades on piers, which originally supported flat wooden roofs of which two have survived the battle, were extremely large in comparison with the rest of the structure. The decorated gothic style, with terraced windows, is further subdivided dependent upon whether the tracery is geometric or curvilinear.

As they entered the broken doors of the cathedral they were awed by the elaborate lierne vaulting in which the ribs were connected by intermediate ribs which did not spring from the walls and so were not major structural members. Columns lined the vaulted ceiling and extended to the ground with intricate designs carved into the stone. The interior was lighted by a group of overhanging chandeliers and by a fire that slowly ate away at a collapsed section of the roof.

Shadows danced across the floor as Adam made his way towards the entrance to the stage, the others in tow. He was surprised to find that a group of priests and civilians sat huddled in the corner bantering about their safety.

Adam ignored them and motioned the group towards the basement, calling Austin to remain with him. "I'm going on top of the bell tower to attack Arnes, hopefully I can do some damage."

Nolan nodded his approval and led the family down into the basement, locking the door behind him so no one would follow. Adam and Austin walked towards a small room with a single staircase that swirled up the inside of the tower. But not long after that they were interrupted by some voices calling to them.

Several priests walked up the stairs and screamed at them. The screams were not human and didn't resemble any animal Adam ever heard before. The howls made Adam and Austin jump and flinch at the ear piercing screech. Suddenly the priests' arms popped and grew a foot longer, as did their legs which bent in awkward angles, like that of a horse. Claws replaced their hands and feet, fangs grew from their now wider mouth. Their skin turned a dark grey and shimmered along their forearms and face, also shadowed by corded muscles that swiftly formed along their body.

"What in the…" Adam yelped, surprised by the strange creatures and his high pitched cry.

Austin whimpered then sprinted up the stairs with unbelievable speed, passing Adam and reaching the towers first floor in seconds. Adam charged the creatures which were now clambering up the steps with fast movements of their awkwardly shaped limbs.

He unsheathed his sword and struck the first creature on the head with the flat of his blade and kicked the next creature down the stairs. Another one leaped over the tumbling body of its partner and swung an arm at Adam, which was sliced off by a slash of metal. It screeched evilly and reared back to attack again only to be met with an arrow.

"Yes!" Austin yelled, conscience of himself, he reached into his quiver for another arrow.

Adam nodded to Austin then went after the next creature, swinging his sword vigorously. The creature fell with an arrow implanted into its head. Adam, seeing that the job was done, ran up the stairs.

"Hurry," He told Austin, "We need to get to the top in order to attack Arnes."

Austin followed Adam and together they reached the floor directly below the top of the tower when another growl filled the air, only this time it was from outside the tower. The air grew hot and smelled of burning wood, Adam looked up to see a wave of red fire flow into the tower, instantly dissolving the wooden roof and melting the stone.

The tower shook as if it was participating in an earthquake, the walls crumbled and exploded randomly as pressure in the stone built up causing it to expand. The monolith tilted and cracked with a loud snap. The top of the tower caved in and crashed upon the third floor, which wasn't strong enough to support the weight of the tower. The third floor collapsed and the debris plummeted downward.

Adam and Austin didn't have a choice but to jump. As they free fell towards the ground, a slight feeling of regret fell upon them, were they going to die. Death seemed the only option as the ground sped up to them. Adam didn't know what would happen, only that…

Stop, he told himself, don't think that way… Wait, what am I doing? I can use magic.

Seconds before they hit the ground Adam shouted, "Letta!"

They froze in the air and slowly dropped to the ground, but not long after that Adam saw the exorbitantly large mass of rock and dust falling above them.

"Stenr reisa!" was the only words heard as the remaining part of the tower filled with a mighty rushing wind that filled the passage and carried the unbelievably heavy cloud of stone back into the air where it blasted out the top if the tower, striking the large black dragon flapping calmly outside. With a roar Arnes fell back, crushed by the mass of stone that flew at him with crazy speed.

Adam collapsed with weariness as Austin cowered in fear as he tried to overcome the fear of being brushed by death. The tower was quiet, except the echo of the blast Adam caused that stretched over the city.

Adam tried to wake but couldn't as he felt his eyelids close without his command. Austin leaned his back against the cobblestone wall and looked over the floor, occupied by the corpses of the three strange creatures; he needed to talk to Nolan about it.

He suddenly heard war horns sound along with trumpets, not yet knowing if it were victory sounds of Xeon or Aroughs, and then he heard it. A voice from outside the cathedral shouted, "Morbid and Arnes are retreating, Aroughs is defeated, we've won!"