Free The Adventures of Benjamin Skyhammer by Nicole Sheldrake

Skyhammer.

Chapter 8
     
     
    Countdown to ceremony: 15 days
     
    "Stop!" Polygon shrieked.
    Before any of the guards could move, she pushed Higgins into the passageway. Then the King's Wizard let loose a barrage of spells. The guards stumbled back.
    Skyhammer caught Higgins as she staggered into him. The door to the passageway was closing.
    Through the thinning crack, they watched Polygon send another volley of spells at the guards who all returned fire simultaneously. Polygon's body flew back against the closing door with a wet smack. The door shut. The attack faded to a low murmur.
    Skyhammer and Higgins paused in the dark. He listened to her breath. Ragged. Like his. She sniffed. The guards would get into the passage soon. They had to leave. He couldn't move. He inhaled deeply. Musty air. He heard Higgins move. A light blossomed in front of him. A river of tears flowed down Higgins' cheeks. She had loved Polygon, he knew.
    Skyhammer patted Higgins on the shoulder. "We have to get out of here." The floating light moved a couple of feet ahead of him, illuminating the purple walls and floor farther into the passageway. He didn't know what to say to Higgins. They had to keep moving.
    "-t's go," she whispered, her voice clouded by tears.
    Skyhammer followed the light. It stayed a few feet ahead of him. He turned once to make sure Higgins was following, and to take the orange wall hanging from her. Her tears had started again. She wiped them away with her sleeve.
    The light led them down a few flights of stairs and past a couple of other passage entrances.
    "How does the light know where to go?"
    In a stronger voice, Higgins said, "I spelled it so it heads north and towards the nearest source of fresh air. We do need to hurry though. The guards will knows where the passage exits and they'll be forcing the King to open the door again soon. We'll be trapped."
    They picked up the pace. After about fifteen minutes, the floating light turned right and disappeared. The corner remained illuminated.
    "We're close to the outside!" Skyhammer rounded the corner. The passage opened up to a ledge with a view over the Crystal Lines.
    "Nasuchu-teeth," Higgins swore. "We've got company. Already!" She withdrew her slate.
    Skyhammer looked up. A horde of flying carpets was descending towards them. He dropped the orange wall hanging on the ledge and stepped on. "Then let's go! This is our carpet."
    Higgins took a deep breath and stepped next to him. "Sit down. This is going be a crazy ride."
    Before his bum had even touched the material, they were in the air and she had put up a green shield around them.
    Skyhammer shut his eyes as they shot out across the Crystal Lines. If she had created a green shield, she must be expecting the colour to change at some point. Perhaps even to red. This meant she didn't think she could last long against her attackers. "We can make it to the edge of the Circle, right? Right?"
    No response.
    "Higgins? Higgins!" He opened his eyes and screamed in terror. They plummeted like a hawk to its prey while hundreds of dark shapes streamed down towards them through the sky.
    "No, we can't," Higgins said through gritted teeth. "I can't steer this thing and fight them off at the same time."
    "What can I do to help?"
    Higgins laughed, a little manically, Skyhammer thought. "Pray." Their carpet dodged and weaved through a flurry of spells.
    The fissures of the Crystal Lines lay only thirty feet below them now. Skyhammer looked up. A spell exploded against the shield, which dimmed to yellow.
    "Oh buzzards," Higgins muttered.
    "What?"
    "Once that shield turns red, we're toast. I guess it's plan B." The wall hanging continued to plummet, Higgins' fingers flying across her slate.
    "Uh, there's no exit down there, Higgins!" Skyhammer yelled. Three spells flared against the shield. It turned orange. "There's only-"
    "Plan B, like I said," she yelled back. She dropped them straight into a fissure of the Crystal Lines.
     
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