Possessing the Grimstone - By John Grover Page 0,72
the pull of it. The third piece is beneath the water.”
“I don’t think I’ll survive going in,” Pim said. “How am I to fight the current?”
“We will put a rope around you,” Tolan said. “The rest of us will hold onto you. We will not let you go.”
“How can you be sure?”
Panno walked up to Pim and touched his face. “It is not your fate. You will not drown in the river. Take comfort.”
“You’re kind, but I still fear it.”
“It’s your fear that keeps you alive,” Shannara said, fetching some rope from her pack.
Tolan and Shannara tied the rope securely around Pim.
“Just wade in, Pim,” Tolan said. “Do not use your fleet, do not try to swim, just wade through.
“Here,” Shannara broke a long tree branch off a nearby sapling. “For balance, hold it against the river’s bottom and move slowly. We’ll hold onto you.”
Pim turned to the river again and started down the bank. He slipped off his boots and slid his feet into the cold water. A shiver shot up his spine. He turned back to Shannara. “Is there a certain direction?”
“I feel energy in the center, around that cluster of rocks.”
Pim spotted the rocks she mentioned and eased into the river. The current smashed up against him. Tolan, Shannara, and Drith held onto the rope with all of their strength.
Panno watched from a distance; the last D’Elkyrie warrior stood by his side.
He reached the rocks and fell onto them, but the others pulled the rope tight, keeping him from getting pulled under. He pushed on his tree branch and fought back for his balance.
His feet tingled again as before, when his fleet had worked wonders. He took hold of the rocks with both hands, and dove under the water.
“Hold on to him!’ Tolan called from the shore.
They could no longer see him. The Wivering had vanished from their sight. All that remained was the rope, wriggling and thrashing violently.
“By the Gods,” Drith cried. “What is he doing? I am losing my grip!”
“Do not let go,” Tolan said. “You hear me? None of you let go!”
They fought the tug of the current until finally, the Wivering broke the surface. Pim opened his eyes and smiled. In his hand, he held the third piece of the stone. Pim and his friends now possessed two thirds of the most powerful magic their world had ever known.
Tolan hauled Pim up and out of the river. Pim reached for his pack to hide the stone when it flew out of his hands and soared through the air. The first half flew out of his pack and the two hovered in the air.
Pim stared up at them as a green hue enveloped both pieces. Pim felt his eyes tingle again and his feet.
Everyone stood and stared in awe as the stones merged with each other then dropped into Pim’s outstretched hand.
He clasped it in his palm and reached for his pack, stuffing them inside and closing the latch. He looked at the others. “Let’s go.” They headed out of the woods and back to the Wivering village.
They reached what had once been the village, and howls erupted all around them. The smoldering ruins rumbled, and from beneath them, the Neshing emerged, charging the group.
“Ambush! Neshing Ambush!” Tolan cried, slinging his sword across the throat of the first to attack. It gurgled and fell to its kness. Its familiar reached for Tolan, but he beheaded the Neshing, and the familiar vanshied.
A battalion of Neshing flooded the village from their hiding spots beneath the rubble, just waiting for someone to uncover the third piece of the stone.
Shannara and her D’Elkyrie warrior jumped into action. She gutted her first Neshing foe with one of her blades, and sliced another across its throat. She leaped over the next charging one, and slashed the back of its head when she came down.
Her warrior sliced and diced her way through two Neshing before a third one struck her down with its massive club. Its familiar clawed at her face, then dragged her up by the hair. The Neshing drew back its club for the deathblow, but Tolan took its head off, stopping it dead. He helped the warrior to her feet.
Pim dashed between the Neshing, ripping open their legs with his sword. Six fell to the ground, where Drith finished each of them off with his serrated sword.
Pim looked back with a smile, proud of their teamwork, until he noticed that the Neshing were targeting him. They stalked him,