“Get close to him. You’re the only one he’ll allow. Look for something that shouldn’t be there. A discoloration of some kind. When Lelex took him, he planted a sickness inside his mind that’s been festering and growing. Like a virus, it keeps reproducing and making him weak. I didn’t see it before until I broke through the block on your amulet. It’s why he never fully recovered from the ordeal, despite his strength.”
I frowned but kept my eyes trained on Matt. “He’s sick? You want to help him?”
“I want his power,” Vane said harshly from behind me. “Saving him will get me that.”
I wanted to look at Vane, but I didn’t dare. My heart jangling in my chest, I took a step toward the hungry lion. “Matt? It’s me, Ryan.”
Enormous jowls moved and he made a low sound in his throat. Yet, a spark lit his gaze. He looked straight at me with unfocused eyes. My heart squeezed inside my chest and I wondered if he was blind. I took another step. The lion’s ears twitched. He tensed. Suspicion colored his brown eyes, but he remained in place.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Matt.” With another slow breath, I took one last step until I stood directly in front of the beast.
For a second, I thought he would swipe a massive paw and shred me like I was no more than lunchmeat. His hot breath blew in my face and halfway down my body. I tried not to gag. As surprisingly clean as the lion looked—a little fact that told me this was Matt and not a real lion—his breath still stunk. His teeth protruded from the rough, yellow fur on the sides of his mouth. My left arm still stung at the sight of them. Once before, I had reached out to touch him when he was in lion form and the result hadn’t been pretty. I had scars up and down my arm to prove it.
I looked down the length of Matt’s lion body. I could see most of his back and sides from where I stood, but there was no discoloration.
“Hurry up, Ryan,” Vane commanded.
“Stop nagging, Vane,” I muttered. Not like he was the one standing less than a hair’s breadth away from being eaten. Although this was all happening strictly in our heads, the things that took place here would affect our bodies in the real word. In other words, if I got killed here, I would be just as dead in reality. The lion sensed my agitation and his hackles rose. He stood up and let out a great, big roar. I stumbled backwards, falling on my butt.
On his underside, I spotted the discoloration. Vane was right. Lelex had infected Matt. A black grid of veins was visible in the lion’s long underbelly.
“It’s there,” I said aloud.
“Where?” Vane asked.
“From his heart down—” I didn’t get a chance to say anymore.
Vane moved so fast I barely had a chance to blink before he reached the lion. The lion roared and raising his massive neck, exposed his belly. With one powerful thrust, Vane plunged a green, glowing hand straight into the lion’s chest. The skin ripped open. Blood gushed out. Vane broke through the brittle barrier of his ribcage and tore open the surprised lion.
Matt screamed and started to thrash.
“Zyayat,” Vane commanded. Green magic spread from his hand to Matt. “Hold still or you’ll just make this worse.”
The lion froze in place.
“You said you weren’t going to hurt him!” I jumped up from the ground, emerging from my own stunned paralysis. I had no idea how to help Matt, but I wasn’t going to passively stand by. More than anything, I wished for Excalibur. I had to slay the monster in front of me… and I wasn’t talking about the lion. Out of nowhere, the sword appeared. The silver blade fell to the floor between Vane and me. I blinked. Of course, this was all in my head. I snatched up Excalibur and held the sword in front of me.
I had as much power here as Vane.
Vane turned cold green eyes toward me. “Not quite as much power.”
“Zyayat,” he commanded again. A familiar wind buzzed against my ears as his magic wrapped around me and secured me in place. I tried to move and found I couldn’t. He’d frozen me, too.
“I told you I wasn’t going to kill him. Stop panicking,” Vane said calmly.
Matt roared, but under the freeze spell, it came out as a