The Monster's Caress - S.E. Smith Page 0,84

drove her back into the cliff wall.

She grunted from the impact and fought to prevent the spike from piercing her granite flesh. She turned her head and saw her three gargoyles. One of them was wounded.

“Get him to safety,” she ordered.

“Thank you, Empress,” one soldier said.

She braced her feet against the cliff and pushed off. Her sharp blade sliced through part of the alien’s tail. Surging forward, she whirled and sliced through the rest of the tail when the alien swung it back toward her.

The severed tail tumbled down the cliff face, bouncing off rocks before landing nearly a thousand feet below. She shielded her eyes when Gem materialized near the severed portion of the alien and released a brilliant burst worthy of a supernova.

They had discovered the only way to kill the damn things was to dismember them and then let Drago and Gem incinerate the pieces. If they didn’t immediately destroy the part, it would regenerate, leaving them to fight even more of the damn things. Fortunately, they had discovered that fact after the first piece fell. Unfortunately, the hard shell on the alien trilobite was almost impossible to penetrate.

Nali looked up. One creature was almost to the mountain top. Pai and six gargoyle soldiers were attacking it. She uttered a loud cry of warning when one poisonous fang, concealed under the trilobite’s armored head, suddenly unfurled and struck out at a young gargoyle. Pai saw the movement and flew between the gargoyle and the alien.

“Pai, no!” she screamed.

Grief and rage thundered through her when the fang pierced Pai’s chest. She channeled her emotions into her wings’ powerful strokes. Soaring upward, she swung her sword and severed the fang.

Pai fell—right off the edge of the cliff. Nali followed him, shifting into an enormous eagle, and plummeted along the mountain’s cliff face. She gently closed her massive claws around the venerable hippogriff and spread her wings, sweeping upward and away from the battle. Tears blinded her as she circled back to the mountain top. She needed to find Xyrie.

Ashure and Ross looked up as she flew overhead, but Nali didn’t see Asahi with them. Her heart hammered in her chest. She had to trust that they would keep their promise to protect Asahi until she returned.

She focused on where she was going. Ahead in the long meadow, Nali glimpsed Xyrie emerging from the trees. The unicorn was alone.

Nali glided lower until she was only a few feet above the ground. She lifted her wings, spread her feathers, and hovered near Xyrie. As gently as she could, she lowered Pai to the ground and released him.

The moment she did, she transformed and dropped to the ground. Her booted feet landed on the soft grass that Pai loved to curl up and nap on, and she sank to her knees beside him.

She trembled as she tenderly caressed the bloodstained gray feathers on his face. His breathing was shallow and uneven. She was afraid to remove the fang for fear he would bleed out.

“Pai, you stubborn old hippogriff. What were you doing in the middle of the battle? You were supposed to coordinate from a safe distance,” she lovingly chided.

“What… fun… is… there… in that?” he faintly responded, opening his eyes and looking at her.

A tear slipped down her cheek, and she caressed his beak. “Not much, I guess,” she admitted.

Pai took a shuddering breath and turned his beak into her palm. She sobbed when he went limp in her arms. Tears freely coursed down her cheeks. She lowered her head and pressed a kiss against the hippogriff’s brow.

“Please, Xyrie, help him,” she begged, not looking up when the unicorn stopped next to them.

“There are some things even a Goddess cannot heal,” Xyrie gently replied.

With a broken heart, Nali protectively held Pai’s head and looked up at Xyrie. The elder unicorn looked back at her with a sad expression. She took a shuddering breath and tilted her head back to stare up at the sky. Dawn was breaking, and the stars were fading as the colors of morning filled the heavens.

She bowed her head. “Return to the universe, my dear friend,” she murmured. She closed her eyes and whispered a spell.

Colorful light surrounded Pai’s body as he faded away. His essence swirled with the colors of dawn before rising into the sky. Nali opened her eyes and watched as Pai’s essence returned to the Seven Kingdoms. With a heavy heart, she rose to her feet and tiredly looked back toward the cliff.