I do not own Lorien Legacies or any of the characters.
Protection
I wake before my head even hits the dirt. All of the pain from my injuries hits me anew and i grit my teeth, managing to catch myself and grab my sword, pushing myself up, swaying unsteadily. Setrákus Ra is stirring as well. So much for having the chance to kill him when I woke up. He's as unsteady as me, maybe more from that smack to the mouth. I shake my head, forcing my body to respond and look to the side, seeing Marina dragging Adam up the incline, fast. I know she heard Setrákus Ra's threat, but she's got a task to do, as much as I wish she'd just run.
I rip my sword out of the ground, seeing Six carrying Ella away from Setrákus. Setrákus rips Adam's sword free of the ground and grins at me. I instantly dart around to stand between him and Marina. Setrákus laughs, then motions for me to attack. Yeah, great idea. of course, that will mean I have the chance to stop him getting any closer. I swallow hard then sprint forward. Setrákus grins and moves to go around me, as I expected. I lunge sideways. I fall short but I manage to take his leg out from under him with my sword. He crashes down hard, face bouncing off the ground and Adam's sword carving a gash into his arm.
"You piece of filth!" Setrákus seethes.
"What's wrong?" I ask, praying I don't regret this. "Can't beat a human in a fight?"
Setrákus's eye twitches and he stands, stabbing Adam's sword into the ground. Then, he begins to grow. In seconds, he towers over me at almost twenty feet. I turn, sprinting away from Marina, who's been forced to take cover from Mogadorian blaster fire. Within seconds I hear Setrákus's gigantic foot falls chasing me. I stop, rolling to the side as his cinderblock sized fist crashes into the ground. I look at his armor and grin. His joints are unarmored to allow for mobility. Which gives me more targets than his head. Setrákus spins toward me, punch already flying. There's no way I can dodge it. Fortunately, before I have to, a lion with the head of an eagle and a massive pair of white-feathered wings flies by, slashing Setrákus across the face before arching around and going to tear into the Mogadorians that had regrouped at the bottom of one of the Anubis's gangways, the ones pinning down Marina.
Setrákus staggers backward, howling in pain and clutching his face. I grin, sprinting past his leg then spin, stabbing my sword into it. I instantly rip my sword sideways out of the knee before he can take the sword from me and Setrákus bellows in pain again, staggering forward and shouting in rage. He kicks back at me but I've already moved out of the way. Just as he turns to attack me, I slam my sword into his injured leg and he drops to that knee, shouting in rage and pushing himself up with his good leg, clutching at his wound. Just then, a massive earthquake rock the ground, knocking me off my feet before Setrákus Ra crashes down, hard. I think he may actually shrink a bit as he lands, but that might be my imagination. I look off to the side just as a jackhammer-sized icicle streaks over my head. I hear Setrákus shout in pain and rage but somehow I know it's not a worthwhile hit. Marina is already preparing another icicle and I push myself up, sprinting away from Setrákus, grabbing Adam's much larger sword on the way by. It's heavier than my own, being a larger sword, and I already detest it, but respect Adam for successfully wielding it.
I toss it to the ground in front of Adam then turn back to Setrákus Ra as he pushes himself up.
"I am not dying at the hands of children," Setrákus Ra snarls as he uses his Telekinesis to shatter Marina's second icicle.
His face is slashed, his ear is missing, and his leg is bleeding heavily. He doesn't sound too sure about that. He begins to scramble up the side of the crater toward Marina and Adam but they keep him away with a combination of Adam's earthquakes, Marina freezing the ground, and Marina hurling chunks of ice. it works well. Setrákus, with his wounded leg, can't get close. Of course, I'm not letting him get to them either. I see Six return to the other side of the crater and Sarah runs toward her. I sprint over as well, knocking Setrákus Ra's good foot out from under him as I pass, sending him rolling down the crater's side. Then, I sprint up the far side, stopping beside the others.
"Mind if I borrow that?" I ask.
Sarah hands over her blaster and I kneel, sighting in on Setrákus. Even giant, his armor's not blaster proof. I fire a burst at him and it sizzles into the back of his left shoulder. He shouts in rage, sending debris flying at us. Six deflects it with her Telekinesis. Then, suddenly, Setrákus Ra tears what remains of the pipe from the Anubis and hurls it at Adam and Marina. Adam dives one way and Marina the other. Both are safe, but without them peppering Setrákus with their Legacies, he begins to scramble up the side of the crater at them.
I fire again, hitting his injured leg and he shouts in pain. He pauses just long enough for me to shoot the other leg as well and he begins to slide back down. Suddenly, a tornado begins to form over him, dark clouds suddenly surrounding the Anubis. I grin. Then, Six screams in pain. I grab her and roll behind a pile of debris, Sarah doing the same just as more blaster fire shot past. Reinforcements. I hand the blaster back to Sarah and sprint down the crater after Setrákus Ra, who's begun to climb again. I sprint up after him and slash the bottom of his good foot then roll to the side as the other manages to kick at me.
"Where the hell are you going?" I growl.
"To see your girlfriend," Setrákus snarls. "I'll tell her you say hi."
Then, I'm flying. Well, thrown by Telekinesis actually, but still. I crash into the side of the crater hard, actually managing to bounce out of it. I crash down at the top and groan. My ribs feel broken, all of them, but I can move so I may have gotten off easy. I get onto my feet just as Setrákus reaches the top of the crater. Marina is in front of him. Too close. She shoves her hand at him but nothing happens. Then, Setrákus extends his hand. My heart stops. Adam's too far away. Sarah and Six are pinned down. Mark's trying to kill the Mogadorians coming from both the Anubis and the jungle now, the jungle group having Phiri Dun-Ra in the lead. Marina sails into the air. Then, in the blink of an eye, she's on the ground again. Then the air. Then the ground.
"STOP! ! !" I shout, voice breaking almost instantly, my arm extended.
At the last possible second before Marina slams down again, she freezes in mid air. Setrákus Ra falters, then extends his hand again, trying to move her. She trembles, my head aches, but she doesn't move. I hold my other hand out toward Setrákus and suddenly he's the one flying through the air. I smash him into the barrier under the Anubis then send him downward as hard as I can. Adam sprints over to Marina, taking her into his arms and I push myself up, turning toward the group of Mogadorians that are led by Phiri Dun-Ra, who's staring at me in terror. If I was deadly pretending to be a Garde, this was going to be fun. I hold my hand out and a massive bolder of limestone rips free from the ground. Then, I whip my hand through the air in front of me and it streaks past, straight at the Mogadorians. Phiri Dun-Ra is the only one to dive aside, so the boulder plows through the group, slaughtering a dozen or so. The rest are disorganized instantly. I send a volley of stones at them, managing to kill a couple but mostly to scatter the rest. Instantly Sarah begins to pick them off while Mark turns back to the Mogadorians at the gangway. I send a few stones at them as well, then I turn to Setrákus Ra, who's miraculously, standing again.
"How did you do that?" he snarls.
"Doesn't matter to you," I reply, my voice even but dripping enough venom that even Setrákus Ra is watching me warily.
"James, let us handle him," Six says. "You go after Adam."
I stare at her a second then nod. Before I leave, however, I send Setrákus Ra flying into the air one more time. Then, I sprint around the crater, heading into the jungle after Marina. She would be okay. She had to. He had only slammed her down twice. The image of Marina's clearly broken body flashes through my mind again. I force it out. She'd be fine. We'd get her to John and John would heal her. He had to. I wouldn't let my curse take Marina. It couldn't have her. She was off limits. I reach the ship in record time, beating any timed run I've had in my life and bound up the ramp onto the ship. Adam's at the back of the ship with Marina, strapping her to a bed to keep her from being jostled when we inevitably have to outrun the Anubis. Even if Six somehow kills Setrákus Ra, it won't matter. the Anubis is still going to chase us. For revenge. For Setrákus Ra. I kneel down beside Marina, eyes stinging.
"Marina," I whisper, voice barely a wheeze.
Adam instantly turns and walks to the front of the ship, leaving me alone. I try to speak but choke up.
"Marina, you can't die," I manage to choke out, crying now. "I...I need you, Marina. I can't lose you. Please. You have to hold on. You're not allowed to leave me. I love you. Please. Hang in there. I'm begging you."
I don't know how long I sit there, but eventually Mark returns. Probably only a few minutes later. He goes immediately to the front of the ship as well. Then, a few minutes later, we hear screaming. It's Six. She's calling for help. Adam and Mark both sprint out of the ship, Adam swearing loudly as he does and I stand, hurrying to the door to see a wounded Six carrying Sarah up the ramp with help from Adam and Mark. Sarah's finished. There's no way she can survive. Something tore a massive chunk out of her side, just above the hip. She'll bleed out in minutes if someone doesn't do something. Six sets her just inside, the ramp closing and Six shouting for Lexa to punch it. Lexa does just that and the ship jerks violently as it shoots forward. Almost instantly blaster fire from the Anubis begins to flash past us.
"Damnit, hold on Sarah!" Six growls, trying desperately to stop the bleeding.
"Six, can I have your phone?" Sarah asks. "I want to call John."
Six bites back a sob and nods, puling her phone out and handing it to Sarah. I gently push Six aside.
"Move," I say, gritting my teeth against what I know is going to hurt, a lot.
I hold my hands out, focusing on the spots where Sarah is bleeding heaviest and suddenly, the bleeding stops. I have six wipe what's left away quickly so I can see and I can make out veins of varying sizes in what's left of her side. I slowly stop the rest of the bleeding too, Sarah pausing in her attempt to dial John in order to see what I'm doing.
"Holy shit," Six breathes. "You're doing it!"
"Yeah, but this will give her a heart attack," I growl. "Hold on. I'm going to try something."
Sarah and Six both nod and suddenly, something in Sarah's side begins to move. It's because of me, of course. The thing moving is tiny, transparent tubes. They're stretching out of the remains of Sarah's veins where I had placed similar plugs before. As they stretch, the exposed ends open. Then, they meet their twin and I begin to let blood through. So, good news bad news. Good news, I created artificial veins with my Telekinesis. Bad news, my head feels like someone is slowly injecting boiling water into my brain. It occurs to me that my brain might actually be tearing itself apart.
"Jesus Christ!" Six gapes. "How the hell are you doing that!?"
Blood pumps through the artificial veins and arteries as though they were normal, the Telepathic creations barely visible, giving the illusion that the blood is just floating to the other side of the gap. I grit my teeth, slowly shaking my head, blood trickling out of my nose already. Barely a minute in and I'm already bleeding.
"Jesus James, you're bleeding!" Six gasps. "Are you going to be able to keep this up?"
"I have to," I grunt just as the ship banks.
It takes all my control for the veins and arteries not to disappear right there.
"Can't focus," I grunt.
"Ella," Six says, turning to the girl.
She's awake now, her face smeared with some sort of thick black fluid, but she has her knees tucked to her chest and she's crying.
"Ella, can you help James concentrate?" Six asks. "Block everything else for him or something?"
Ella nods and closes her eyes, sniffing. Then, a moment later, everything stops. I still feel the agonizing pain, the the world outside has stopped registering in my brain, except for Sarah and my creations. I grit my teeth, forcing myself to ignore the pain. It's not easy. Not even a little. But I cannot allow Sarah to die. Not if I have the power to save her. No one is dying.
Read and review.