[Ashborn-B1] 69. Opposing Interests (Patreon)

LXIX

Opposing Interests

Gaje’s aura flared and his feathers bristled. As his talon raised, the swallowed cries of disciples and the gushing water slowed.

The drum of Ashwing’s wings slapping the sky deepened. The branch in my hands creaked. ‘Damn it!’ I peered through strained eyes. The other disciples were trying to help, but most lacked a foothold or platform for their efforts to be effective.

We weren’t getting this open. I had to let go. But if did, then what? The thin nails attached to Gaje’s talon glimmered in my sight. I grimaced. Even if I dodged, I would still die afterwards.

“Gaje,” I grunted, “I know you’re a murder hobo, but think for once!”

His many eyelids narrowed.

…What if he had a skill that allowed him to phase through the door? It wasn’t unthinkable since his powers were related to dreams, and it’d explain his calm.

I cursed. My fingers loosened—

The claw dug into the walls beside the entrance. Gaje’s gaze remained on me as a pair of long limb extended from his cloak-like feathers. His nails were thin but elongated. And hard. Hard enough to not be at risk of snapping even when the Nightmare leaned back and buried them into the foundation.

Ren and Ashwing both cried out. Erri’s serpent partially melt through the door’s surface. Korin and Ori raised their staff from below the water, and a ring of light appeared around me.

The whole of our collective might hauled against the rising water level, which had seen the water pass the halfway mark of the entrance.

It was impossible. Even with the enchantments of the door firing so fiercely their humming was making the walls shake…

The walls were shaking?

Cracks expanded from the edge of the door with a snap. Before I could frown, the resistance popped and, all at once, Ashwing flipped backwards through the air.

The top of the entrance had come loose, creating a gap big enough for a person to worm their way through. It wasn’t a lot. But it was what we needed. Gaje flew at the hole and ripped out a bigger chunk of the foundation. Erri’s serpents coiled, strung back like a bow, and rammed into the wall like a battering ram. What remained was an opening the size of a cart.

I unsummoned Ashwing just as the water swallowed the entire door frame. Ren and I tumbled into the water. The boy reached for his mouth and tried kicking his feet but he barely surfaced. Steam rose from his boots. No fire came out either. He stretched his hand out as she sunk. I refrained from snorting to not lose my breath, grabbed his hand and pulled him to my chest.

His fires may not work underwater, but my own had no such limitation.

I grabbed onto Skul as he dove out of the portal. The balekin whirled around and shot through the water like a trout, carrying us behind him.

Seeing us bound past, some sinking disciple stretched out their hand as well. I didn’t bother shaking off those who found purchase. Ren wasn’t of the same mind. He kicked a Fallen Immortal in the face and shoved them back into the depths.

I swivelled. ‘We’re losing a lot.’

The last remaining air bubbles gasped out of people’s throats. Corpses piled up at the bottom of the hall, enough to create piles of my height. And that was only the ones at the front. How many had died further down the path? My insides shivered merely thinking of it.

Water gushing through the hole pulled us forwards, and we wormed through.

I gasped for air because of more than lack of breath. The moment we entered the shrine, we rushed headfirst towards the ground. My hands were already forming the sign for a portal when a well-timed platform of ice shaped underneath us and broke our fall.

The water slapped out of my drenched clothes with a squelch.

Aurille lowered her arm.

“Thanks!” I yelled. My face was still firmly planted on the platform as I gave her a thumbs up.

A small nod was my only acknowledgement before she turned to saving the remainder of the disciples from a painful landing. Most were either Dawnflame or Alliance members.

Raven and Kayle were already on the ground floor. The boy coughed maniacally to empty his lungs. Kayle gathered her hair and twisted to rinse out the water.

I deadpanned. ‘That’s the first thing she’s worried about?’

She jerked, turned to catch me staring, and flashed me a smile.

I shook my head.

Everyone I considered important allies had made it out. Even the old Dawnflame lady who’d accused me at the start of our journey through the hall.

The ones I considered important enemies, too. Gaje shook himself like a dog to dry himself off, to the chagrin of those around him. Aedan rested her morning star on her shoulder and studied the Allied Forces arranged in front of her. Erri, meanwhile, glared back at the entrance like it had debased her mother in public. The elites around her did the same.

There were barely a handful of lesser drakes around them.

I exhaled. ‘None of them could swim.’ Only those she could grab onto were spared. That’s why I wasn’t surprised when the princess gathered her essence and stormed towards the gate.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Aurille called.

The princess didn’t turn around.

Aurille waved her arm. A barrier stopped Erri in her tracks.

Now the princess did whirl on her. The veins carving through her eyes were twice as numerous as they’d been when locking me in place. “Don’t waste my time.”

Every second she waited was another second her clansmen came closer to dying.

Aurille’s face remained passive. She pointed at the entrance. “I understand your frustration. Our own clan members are on the other side of that door, too. But I cannot let you destroy the entrance any further. We’re sealing it before it breaks, lest this chamber floods as well.”

“This chamber is the size of a valley,” Erri snarled.

The chances of it flooding should be zero…but that was if the water actually stopped pouring. This chamber may be a valley, but the entire shrine was big enough to fit a country. We’d spend days traversing it. Moreover, the water seemed to be pouring straight from the abyss. How much water was down there? Could a single chamber, even as big as this, hold it all?

Then there was still the shrine itself. Even if the water levels only managed to reach ankle or knee-height, we had to fight in it. In combat, the barest fractions could kill someone.

…But we could always escape through the other entrance, right?

My gaze went to the other side of the chamber.

“The other exit sealed itself once our army entered,” Aurille said. “Activation of the shrine has started.”

I turned back over my shoulder. Water still poured from the hole. It didn’t look like it was going to stop anytime soon.

‘Should we go back in and quickly save who we can?’

Erri might not be able to get her drakes through, but some of the Dawnflames could yet be saved, and they were easier to transport than drakes.

I had one of my chicks peer through the gap to see what the situation was on the other side. A single eye looked back at me. I blinked. The organ wasn’t human, for the pupil rotated constantly.

The thing it belonged to pulled back, revealing a long, serpentine body similar to that of the guardian. But it was not the guardian. When it steered clear of the hole, I saw how other beasts looking similar to the creature dragged the corpses from the bottom of the veritable ocean away into the deep waters, never to be see again.

“There’s no one to be saved,” I said, drawing the attention of those below me. “Either they’re the guardian’s spawn or that of the shrine, but a bunch of underwater creatures entered the hall. They’re all above level forty.”

“You’re lying.” A Black Fang said. It was the white-haired girl with pointy ears and whiskers. The dark-skinned disciple with an eyepatch who tingled to my senses was beside her. Those two seemed a pair, so I wasn’t sure why she was on my ass, but I supposed she could’ve lost people dear to her during the flight.

I shrugged, pulled Ren up by his scruff, and leapt down the platform. “Don’t take it from me.” I landed easy and sauntered towards Aurille. Behind her, Leah cast a worried glance at the boy in my hands, who appeared content with being dragged like a sack of potatoes. “Feel free to dive in. That leaves me less of you to worry about. Do be quick about it so we can seal up the hole.”

The girl’s ears and whiskers twitched. She stepped forwards—

I raised my brow. Seriously? Does she have a death wish?

—but the boy pulled her back and held out his hand in apology.

I huffed. “How long have you been here, Aurille?”

“We arrived around twenty minutes ago.” The one who spoke up was Tsall.

We traded greetings.

“So about two hours until the shrine starts,” I said. “Then we should hurry and rest. Even if all of us worked together, we may not be able to beat it.”

For once, Gaje’s hundreds of eyes weren’t boring holes into my back but that of the Divine Beast roosting within the centre column. Some of his eyes locked onto the giant at the far back of the chamber.

I frowned. Seeing the three enemy clans here without most of their members had put my heart at ease. Only now did the realisation dawn on me that we’d just assembled three of the toughest opponents in one room while we had yet to clear the shrine.

‘But not only that.’

I didn’t know the exact details of his powers, but Gaje had reached the Black Temple. That didn’t happen by accident, which meant he was interested in one of the three rewards. My bet was on the dragon blood. But with that bet came the guess that he had an ability or skill that let him use that blood.

What if he was after the Divine Beast as well?