Nentarli [COMPLETE]

~ Forty-eight ~

We had to do something fast, otherwise we'd never have a chance of fighting them. I did the only thing I could think of, I blasted magic at the Horror pretending to be my mum. I managed to catch it off guard, and flames swallowed the creature, melting the fake skin it was wearing to reveal the ugly black monstrosity beneath.

The Horror writhed in pain, unlike the last time I'd tried it, my magic was stronger and so were the flames. They didn't just burn the skin away, they barbecued the Horror. Pretty soon it was a charred corpse on the ground.

"Agh, that was not supposed to happen yet, we are supposed to waste time!" Fake Alacor choked out, its voice cracking too much to sound anything like Alacor now.

"They're stalling us, it's not really your parents. You have to get passed it and fight them, something worse is coming." I urged the others who were all still staring at their counterparts, I pulled out my sword. "Come on, fight!"

"It's not that easy, Cass!" Emy was still staring between both versions of her dad, her face contorted in agony.

A light flickered in my brain as an idea came to me, "Then don't fight your own, swap!"

It took a moment to jostle them out of their dazed state, but they must have seen the sense in my words. They exchanged looks and swapped places without a word. Kaleb took a stance in front of fake-Alacor, Kayle took Blaike's mum, Emy took Kaleb's dad and Blaike took Arissa. They didn't hesitate in their attack this time, the Dark Horrors didn't seem like they wanted to fight and I hoped I was wrong about the reason behind it.

I used the distraction their fights caused to make my way to the body of the Alacor laid up against the hill, I kept my distance however. I kicked one of the feet and the head turned, the eyes opened a fraction and I was shocked and relieved to see the whites they contained. It was the real Alacor and he was alive but badly injured, bleeding heavily from his side and on closer inspection I could see he had a dark purple bruise to the side of his temple.

"We have to get you out of here, everyone thought you were dead and Emy..." I trailed off, he didn't need to hear the despair his daughter had suffered.

Alacor tried to speak but he was only semi-conscious and the words didn't form correctly.

"What is it?" I leaned closer, trying to hear what he was saying.

"Run... he is... com..." was all he got out before his eyes closed again and he fell back into unconsciousness.

I checked his pulse to make sure and then I began to panic. I didn't have to question who he was talking about, there was only one 'he' Alacor would tell us to run from. My suspicions had been correct, the Dark Horrors were stalling us for the arrival of their master.

The real fight was coming, on this half-grass, half-snowy wasteland with our forces divided. He was sure to be bringing more Menaces with him, Merkell and the soldiers would have their hands full and that's exactly what he wanted. This elaborate plan was going almost exactly his way, we had to change that. I left Alacor where he was and turned to the others.

They were all still fighting, it seemed these Horrors were stronger and smarter than the previous ones we'd faced. I ran over to help, first to Emy who was the closest, it didn't take us long now that we were together. The creature fell in a twisted heap on the ground, bits of its fake skin still hanging on its body but now it was unrecognisable.

I grabbed Emy's shoulder before she could run off to help the others, her face was fierce and determined. I could see she was using it to hide her pain and I had to fix it if she was to be focused enough for what was coming.