Spear of Destiny James Baldwin (free romance novels .TXT) 📖

“Help!” I splashed to the surface.

Karalti broke from her excavation, wading over to me. I climbed up her hand as she bit into the next heart, clamping her teeth into it and shaking. I pulled myself up to the slick saddle, struggling to breathe. I was losing 5HP a second now—not good.

“If I die, promise me you’ll get out of here,” I gasped, struggling against burning eyes and sinuses and braced for the next Jump. “When she’s dead, you can teleport-”

“SHUT UP AND STAB!” Karalti worried the fibrous tissue, throwing her neck and shoulders into it. The organ ruptured under the pressure of her jaws: and suddenly, we were both submerged as the worm flipped over, lashing from side to side.

Holding my breath, I swam on instinct, trusting my gyroscopic orientation to help me find ‘up’. I burst out the surface of the liquid to find the last aortic arch pounding violently, fibrillating as the Voidwyrm tried desperately to save itself. I swam to it, arm over arm, called the Spear to hand, and rammed it into the tissue with a harsh cry.

The organ ruptured with a satisfying explosion, pumping blood into the chamber with enough force that it washed me away. Karalti, now barely keeping her head above the waterline, let out a shrill cry as I tumbled off her back and got dunked down into the thick fluid. I didn’t need Navigail to tell me that I’d dealt the mortal blow—I could feel it, as the Voidwyrm lunged up high into the air, keening, and then slowly, thunderously, toppled like a falling tree. I clutched at Karalti’s wing, trying and unable to find space to breathe. I had enough constitution to be able to hold my breath for a couple of minutes, but my oxygen meter was going down —fast.

[Myszno Defence Force has defeated Voidwyrm Empress!]

[All units gain 6995 EXP!]

[Warning: 15% Oxygen.]

“Hold onto me, Hector! I still can’t teleport, but we’re almost through!” Karalti scrabbled, kicking and clawing with all her might against the Voidwyrm’s flank. I clutched onto her, eyes screwed shut against the blood, feeling my HP drain away. My hands and feet were turning numb.

“Stay with me! Hector! You can make it!” Karalti’s voice sounded distant and fuzzy. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to keep my grip on her wing. Something was pulling me away from her. I flailed out, lungs burning for air... and then the current changed, and I was rushing forward. Rushing and tumbling, falling, until I landed with a wet splat.

“Urrgrh.” Coughing, moaning, I struggled up to hands and knees. Blood poured off my body like I’d been doused in housepaint. It was in my helmet, in my armor, in my lungs. I hacked, crawling blindly, only to collapse onto my chest in... sand?

“Karalti?!” I pulled my helmet off and tried to clean the sandworm blood from my eyes.

[Warning! You are suffering from Mana Poisoning! HP: 1630/3229]

I staggered to my feet, remembered I had potions, and spammed three of them. Then I pulled a waterskin, and dumped the whole thing over my head, scrubbing at my face until I could see. Karalti was lying slumped on the ground beside the sandworm, one wing folded underneath her, the other sagging from her flank.

“SHIT!” I ran and waded to her as terror gripped my chest. “Karalti!”

Karalti stirred weakly, groaning as I reached her head and lay hands on her. Frantically, I checked her vitals: her HP was okay, she didn’t suffer from mana poisoning, but she was down to 13% mana and 2% stamina. Any more mana loss, and she would pass out.

“Yaaay.” She gave a little telepathic cheer, letting her head flop back down onto the ground. “We did iiiit.”

I draped myself over her muzzle, hugging any bit of her I could reach, and managed a wheezy little laugh. “We sure as fuck did. All of us.”

“Hector! Are you alive down there!?” Suri’s voice, stiff with fear, broke through the exhaustion. I looked around before realizing it was a PM.

“Yeah. Yeah, we’re okay. Haven’t gotten rid of us yet.” I slumped down against Karalti’s head, sliding to the ground with my back resting against her brow ridge. “Karalti and me aren’t doing so hot. Might want to come pick us up before I die of mana poisoning.”

“Okay: I can see you on the map, we’ll be there! Get out of that wet patch before it turns to quicksand!”

Quicksand. I jerked up, realizing that yes, Karalti was slowly sinking as the Voidwyrm’s blood soaked into the dry sand. “Karalti! Potions, now!”

Karalti struggled up, honking as her heavier hindquarters slipped into the wet sludge. “Ahh!”

I grabbed the last mana and stamina potions from her Inventory, frantically uncorked them, and shoved them into her mouth. Second by second, she was sliding away into the liquifying ground – and so was I.

“HHNNRRRAGGGH!” Karalti tossed the jars away, snatched me in her jaws, beating her wings to keep her chest above the surface. Her scales surged with light: and then we teleported, reappearing high over the circling ships.

“Holy shit,” I gasped, hanging limply between my dragon’s teeth. The Voidwyrm was a twisted quarter-mile long wreck, twitching in a sea of its own blood that was causing it to slowly immerse into the desert. Withering Rose, several hundred yards away, was fine—and as a cheer went up from the ships, the dredgers that had been hanging back out of battle range began to chug toward the fallen Warsinger.

“Gar! Lorenzo! We did it! We did it we did it we did it!” Rin’s voice broke off into a delighted squeal.

“We all joined Rin on the Aspern,” Suri said, her voice cutting past the sounds of Rin’s unintelligible joy. “Stern is clear for landing. Get down here before Karalti falls out