The Last Heroes Before Judgement Read Online Free PDF Page A

allowed it to snap closely around my body. They rushed in clicking at my hand and sucked in air- just in time to eat a death blow.
    “Oh, and you too? Is it snack time? No, sorry, it’s bashing time.”
    The rag slipped from all the bat slobber and was quickly sucked up like a small bug. They still swarmed at me for the fresh blood, but, their new target was the back of my head. One quickly latched on from above and sunk his teeth in to hold on. I failed to pull him off, and then had to swing at one on my left. His rough tongue scraped over the wound as if he were trying to roll the wings and legs from the thorax of a much smaller kill. I tugged at his ear but he stayed suctioned to my scalp. Before he undid my stitches, he was tackled by an even larger bat. They spilled down into the cart- still fighting each other. Another latched around my right arm but found it too small to properly bite. I left him there, gladly using his body to shield my right side. We were losing to them, and the steed had nearly come to a full stop from the weight. He was covered in the blood sucking monsters, trying and failing to impale them on his horn.
    “Tiana, light them up!”
    “Boys, stay down. Senjay, don’t look this time.”
    Grandmother ducked down and threw the lighting globe high above the bridge. When we passed under it, she threw a knife that shattered the curved glass. The pressurized contents erupted into a massive fireball that burned the swarm from within, and even singed the bat on my arm. He joined the rest of the horde in splitting into smaller swarms. They decided to stop chasing us, as it was much easier to simply eat their freshly cooked cousins. I put my foot up on the cart door and spun the chain around my head in victory.
    “That’s right you flying rats! Hey look, a baby one. No don’t- owie!”
    A smaller bat bit me just above the knee, but to be fair, I had propped it up there for him. Senjay got out from under the pelt and took a look at the cute little baby, before I popped him off. I showed him mercy, throwing him up in the air to head home. The elders were more concerned with the steed and his many bites. The moment we passed back onto solid ground he took off at a full gallop. Omar was so afraid that he had peed on himself. For the first time in my life, I was too tired to poke fun at him.
    The western road was made of dirt. Even covered with a layer of snow, it held the wheels better than the paved bridge had done with a thin sheet of ice. The rush took its toll on my aching head worse than on my tired body- sleep was the remedy for both. The air filled with the smell of cow dung, meaning that we were surrounded by farming peoples on all sides. The established hunting community meant that we would be safe from monsters for the rest of our journey. We took a turn north just before I fell back to sleep, and that was the last bumpy interruption.
     
     
     
    I did not wake up until the steed pulled to a stop. Mother Moon had travelled east toward the allFather to delay his coming. The two forces of light battled overhead and formed green lights in the north, though, the sky was a dark purple mix of fire and water. The scene was so captivating that I feigned sleep, allowing the others to speak for a change.
    “Well, if that wasn’t the longest night of my life…”
    “Senjay, you have no idea.”
    “You pushed one over the edge, Lazarus. One and only one. Then you left the rest to that cackling Swillian, and it was his fault we were nearly eaten by those hideous monsters.”
    “Well, I had gone blind, but then, all you did was wet yourself.”
    I smiled deeply from hearing Omar sing my praises. Finally the butt of a joke, we all laughed at him until we had run out of air. The steed huffed at us for making light of the attack, if only because he had lost the most blood. The cloud layer was blowing away from the approach of morning. We could see the northern mountain line that had been pushed up by the