legs.
Ew.
I certainly wasn’t used to that. But an uphill run under flaming clouds would turn anyone into a swamp monster.
The boulders around us cleared out as we moved higher, all the vegetation beginning to disappear. Finally, I could see the very top of the mountain. It blazed with orange fire, the flames coming right out of the rock. Even more fiery clouds coalesced at the top.
“It’s like hell come to earth,” Aeri muttered breathlessly.
My worst nightmares, really. If the Christian hell were real, I had a feeling they might have modeled this place after it. Or vice versa.
We were close to the top—only a few hundred yards—when a dark energy began to fill the air. The earth in front of us moved, shifting and twisting.
I stumbled to a halt, my breath going short. “Holy fates, what’s that?”
“Snakes.” Tarron’s voice carried a dire tone.
I squinted at the writhing mass. It was at least three huge black snakes, uncoiling upon themselves. They were as wide around as I was and at least twenty feet long. Not as big as the huge serpent I’d faced in the Fae trials, but that was probably a bad thing. These guys would be faster as a result. And their fangs were more than big enough to pierce me right through the chest.
Firelight gleamed on their shimmering black skin, which wafted smoke in the same way that Wally’s fur did.
“Hell snakes?” Aeri asked. She’d clearly seen the same thing I had.
“It makes sense, I guess.” I eyed their three heads, which were turning to look at us.
Fiery red eyes and brilliant white fangs gleamed. Their skin shimmered with magic beneath the smoke that rose up from their bodies.
“What is a hell snake?” Tarron asked.
“Black magic creature.” I searched my memory for all that I’d learned of them. “If we kill them, they will return to the underworld. The goddesses must have put them here.”
“When Hestia gave you the knowledge of ancient Greek, did she happen to tell you how to defeat these?” Tarron asked.
“No. I don’t think they work at the goddesses’ command. They were just plopped down here one day, and now they probably strike to kill.”
“An effective guard.” Tarron drew his long gleaming sword from the ether. “We need to kill quicker.”
I nodded, not feeling the least bit guilty. Being figments of dark magic, they wouldn’t even feel pain. We just had to injure their corporeal bodies enough to release the black magic and send them back where they’d come from.
Carefully, I drew my bow and arrow from the ether. Aeri drew her mace and began swinging it over her head, working up a rhythm that would allow her to smash in skulls with efficiency and grace.
The snakes hissed and reared up as we approached. I eyed the sky, wondering if I could strike from above.
A fiery cloud wafted with the wind, moving so quickly that I winced.
Yeah, that had to be avoided if at all possible.
I moved right, trying to draw one of the snakes away from the others. We couldn’t have two snakes attacking one person—it’d be more than we could manage.
Tarron shot a jet of flame at one snake, who reared up and caught it in his mouth. He seemed to grow bigger as a result, his body thickening and his eyes glowing a brighter red.
Shit.
“Definitely no to flame,” Tarron said.
The Thorn Wolf appeared next to me, crouching low and growling up at the snake who loomed over me. I heard Wally hiss from the side, and realized that he’d shown up to watch Aeri’s back.
“Wally says they hate water,” Aeri said.
Thank fates for the hell cat.
Tarron’s magic filled the air, and a jet of water shot from his palm. It nailed the snake closest to me right in the face, making the creature rear back and shoot fire, rage in every quivering muscle.
With my snake distracted, I aimed my bow at the one who loomed over Tarron. Beyond them, Aeri and Wally were leading her snake on a fast chase. They had it under control, so I focused on Tarron’s snake. I fired two arrows, one after the other, so fast that my hands were a blur even to my own eyes. Each arrow struck the snake in one of its eyes, blinding it.
It thrashed, giving Tarron time to keep up the assault on my snake. The water hit the snake in the face, and it kept its head up to avoid the spray, dodging and ducking. I stashed my bow