Chapter 9: We Meet a Child of Endurance

Chapter 8

The trip to the Pheonix’s nest was farther than we had originally thought, so we discussed what we should do when we get there. Sean was predictable with charge in and defeat the enemy. Anna was strangely silent. But I thought of something.

“Didn’t the Pheonix originally come from the sun? Doesn’t that mean your father may know how to defeat it, or at least release it?” I asked. She was silent for a few more minutes, then responded.

“I don’t know about that, but from what I remember, the Pheonix was a bird, not a fire bird. The fire part of it comes from its rebirth. It is reborn in a final burst of flame, and from the ashes of that flame to be reborn again. I think we need to figure out how Hyas captured the bird, once we do that we will know how to release it. It is not like a monster, it is meant to be reborn almost immediately after death. You could say, it is the god of rebirth,” she finished.

My hands moved of their own accord once more. I pulled out a little bird, the automaton I worked on last night. It was a little bird. As I looked at the bird my mind went over the parts i put into it. Basic imperial gold plating for the body, gold feathers for the wings, incendiary cables for the motor processes, unstable core...wait a second.

“I got it,” I suddenly stated, Sean jumped a little because he was in his own world.

“Got what?” he asked.

“Anna,” she looked at me, “you said that the Pheonix needs to go up in a burst of flames right?” She nodded, then looked at the bird. Sean backed away.

“You didnt mix a volatile metal and fire again did you?” he asked in a worried voice.

“I did exactly that.” Then I explained my plan to them.

We reached the rocks that showed the beginning of Nest. Hyas was reclining against the wall of the mountain, sharpening a sword of pure black. It seemed to absorb the sunlight around it, and I could swear that snow was falling under the blade itself. His black army fatigues just as I saw them in the dream. Now however, besides the sword, he wore a quiver of javelins on his back, and a second sword of more familiar bronze still sheathed on his hip. Under his left arm was something unusual. It appeared to be a fire arm, a desert eagle.

He stood as we approached.

“Well,” he said in a gruff, yet melodic voice. “I did not expect you so soon. My pet is not yet ready for another assault on your fort. But I was getting a little bored sitting here waiting for that damnable bird to heal up and get ready. How, oh how, shall you entertain me?”

He nodded, and some Hyperborian Giants crawled out of the caves. Four of them lined up to either side of him, two with giant swords of plain steel, one with a maul, and the final carrying a satchel with rocks. Hyas picked up the Mist orb that I saw Caligula give him in my dream and whistled a happy little tune. Then the giants sprung into action. The sword wielders rushed forward at us roaring at us as frost gathered around them. The hammer wielder rushed to the side trying to get at us from our flank.

The giant with the satchel waited and watched. Anna released her arrow at the neck of the first giant who swatted it aside, not seeing the arrow behind it until it entered his throat, ice cracked with each step of the charging giant until finally, it shattered and the sword skittered across the ground. The second giant slowed down, and had to look down to avoid stepping on it. Before we could take advantage of this, the last giant reached into his satchel and pulled out a group of pebbles. He threw them, and they grew as they flew at us.

Now Sean and I decided it would be a great time to move. Anna fired another set of arrows, this time at the rock thrower, then ran to find protection against the hail of rocks. Sean ran for the hammer giant and I took the slowed down fellow. One of the boulders hit him behind his head, and he turned angrily to his companion. I took advantage of this mistake, so I jumped, stabbed my shield into his knee, then used the recoil to jump further up. The giant roared in pain as I continued the process, finally stabbing him in the neck as the final blow. The Giant fell backward.

I got up to see Sean run up the handle of the hammer, then the giants arm, to jump at the giants face, stabbing both gladii into the giants eyes. Anna performed the same trick, however slightly less impressive, seeing as she did it with arrows. Still impressive.

“Well, well, well,” Hyas drawled, clapping his hands together. I honestly thought that would take you brats just a little longer. No worries, considering how long it took you to do that, you should keep me entertained, oh, I dunno. A minute, tops?” He threw the orb to the side, whistled, then drew the black sword and a javelin from his quiver. The smoke swirled and formed into the shape of a man, Calligula. From one of the caves up the mountain, a blast of flame rushed out, and the Pheonix stepped onto a ledge.

With a roar of rage Hyas threw the javelin and rushed Sean, the great bird launched itself, and Calligula drew his sword. Sean slipped daggers free from his armor and threw them at the ground in front of the charging Hyas. Anna and I did the same. The dagger handles flared and started shooting sparks. They were nothing fancy, just something used for entertainment at parties, but they were unknowns, and in a fight, unknowns could be fatal.

Calligula and Hyas stopped their advance and backed away, the bird flapped its wings, and we changed combatants. Sean rushed Calligula as Anna started firing arrows at Hyas. We expected this to work.

It did not.

Caligula swept his arm and the arrows flew off target. Towards Sean. He ducked aside as Caligula continued swinging his hands around like a maniac, but blasts of fire and lightning drove us back. The Pheonix landed on a ledge above Caligula and started breathing blasts of fire in our direction. Pinning us down.

“What are we going to do now?” Anna screamed over the fire. The problem was, I had no idea what to do. Then Sean scared me out of my whits.

“Mark, show them why your called ‘The Jabberwokk’!”

Chapter 10