Ollie MacQuoid and the Journey To Rubius

Chapter Eighteen

Ollie looked into the beast's eyes and saw stars. Hundreds of them, surrounded by inky darkness that swallowed him whole. Calladin's voice faded into a whisper. The storm around him melted into a wall of grey. Ollie's very bones seemed to freeze and turn to solid ice.

This was fear. This was fear like Ollie had never felt before. Nothing had ever driven fear so deep into Ollie's soul. Not the mist monsters. Not Yuniferix. Not even Bax himself.

The beast was so large Ollie's head couldn't reach its shoulder. Its flesh was jet black, smooth and shiny, with lines of coarse fur down its shoulders and spine. It prowled on all fours, claws as big as Ollie's hand leaving gouges in the ice as it circled them. A large whale's tail smacked the ground methodically. Two wide-set eyes bore him to the spot. A gaping mouth, deep as Ollie's whole arm, smiled at them with two sets of thick, gleaming, razor-sharp teeth.

Akhlut. Monster of the North. Half-whale, half-wolf. Ollie remembered seeing one at a zoo the year before. The beast had terrified him then. Now, it scared him so much he felt numb.

"Ollie!" Calladin's voice took a second to process. Ollie didn't take his eyes off the beast. "Ollie, walk backwards. Follow my voice. Stay calm."

Ollie was calm. He was so calm. His legs didn't shake when he took a step backwards, and his bowels definitely didn't threaten to empty themselves when the Akhlut approached a little more. There wasn't anything for miles to defend himself with. He'd be safe if he reached the hole in the ice. All he had to do was reach the hole in the ice.

The akhlut growled softly. Its tail kept slapping the ground, sending jolts up Ollie's spine. What if it broke the ice? He'd never survive the cold. His lips stung. His ears stung. Everything stung. He couldn't see where he was going. Where was Calladin?

A smaller figure emerged from the walls of grey around them. The akhlut bore its teeth and snarled. Clementine!

"Hey!" The figure barked. "Hey! Hey! Hey!"

That's my voice! Ollie thought with a jolt. She's using my voice!

The akhlut took a hesitant step towards Clementine, then another. Clementine's form disappeared into the storm, shrieking nonsense in Ollie's voice as she went. With a thunderous roar, the akhlut barreled after her, splintering ice with each step. Their figures were lost in the wall of grey, but Clementine's battle chant never faltered. Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!

"Come on!" Calladin grabbed Ollie's elbow and dragged him backwards. Ollie's feet slipped beneath him and sent spikes of pain up his ass as he crashed to the ground. He tried to roll to his feet but Calladin's arms were already around his chest, pulling him back through shards of broken ice until he tipped backward and fell head-first into the hole. The cold was staggering and Ollie would have sunken in if not for Calladin grabbing him by the back of the knees and dragging him back out.

"Idiot!" Calladin hissed. "You'll drown!"

"Clementine!" Ollie said. His lips felt like they were going to split open. "Clementine!" He repeated, louder over the incessant creaking of the ice.

"Shut up!" Calladin clapped a hand over Ollie's mouth. The akhlut roared. "Stay here, and don't move!"

Calladin stood up and disappeared into the storm. Ollie looked back at the hole, sharp-edged and darker than he ever imagined water could be, and felt his heart beat quicker. If he could just do magic —

Something screamed. Not Calladin — another voice, younger and higher. Clementine! Ollie pushed to his feet, hands burning in contact with the ice, and stumbled forward into the whirling blizzard. He didn't know where exactly he was going, but something drew him forward, past spikes of ice bigger than trees and other misshapen holes that beckoned him to the darkness below.