Path of Dragons

Book 5: Chapter 55: Scrambling

Elijah was on fire, and he regretted ever volunteering to lead the horde of robotic insects away. He dove aside as a roach-bot descend upon him from above – who knew they were capable of flight? – and rolled across the muddy ground to put out the flames ruining his scaled back. He never stopped moving before he sprang to his feet, grabbed a handful of mud, and vaulted himself to even greater speeds.

He vacated the area just in time to avoid another pillar of flame that melted everything in its fiery radius. That included huge hunks of metal that might’ve once been gears for some gargantuan machine, a half-dozen robots of various insectile design, and if he had been only a little slower, a Druid who’d bitten off more than he could chew.

Fortunately, his lamellar ape form was particularly good at traveling over uneven terrain, so he managed to stay just ahead of the pursuit. The wasps were more difficult to evade, as evidenced by the mass of burns that his back had become. But he was still alive, and the plan was still just as viable as when he’d begun.

Or that was what he wanted to believe.

The fact was that he had no idea if he had the strength to survive. The robots were far more powerful than he’d expected, and their pursuit came a lot more quickly than he had anticipated. More, even though he’d felt the wasps’ fury once before, he’d underestimated just how deadly those flames could be. Still, he told himself that if he could just reach the line of traps laid by Kurik, he would have a chance of survival.

So, he raced ahead, bounding from one hunk of trash to another. Along the way, he was forced to fend off dozens of robots. Some were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but a few were particularly quick-footed members of the horde chasing him. Either way, Elijah knocked them aside with predictably bestial fury, never stopping long enough to finish them off.

The wasps did that for him.

Pillars of flame periodically hit behind him, and Elijah knew that if he stopped even for a moment, he would be cooked. He kept going, darting one way or another at random so that the monsters couldn’t predict his path. It was marginally effective, though on more than one occasion, he felt the sting of their fiery attacks. But he couldn’t stop to heal. One little delay, and he’d be broiled alive.

On and on he went, covering close to three miles before he saw a few familiar landmarks. He remembered where every trap was supposed to be, but even so, he was forced to slow his pace in order to avoid tripping them himself. That gave the horde an opportunity to catch up.

The first was a simple series of tripwires rigged to set off a set of spring-loaded stakes that hit with enough force to impale the metallic monsters. After that came the expected trenches and pit traps, each lined with various spikes and other methods of delivering Kurik’s power. When asked if his traps would affect the robots, the dwarf had only scoffed and shook his head.

As it turned out, Kurik’s confidence was well-placed, and the robots fell in droves. Unfortunately, there were plenty more where they’d come from. Elijah kept going, and as he went, the traps grew more magical in nature. There was one that exploded into a lightning storm whose fury put Calamity to shame, while another resulted in a conflagration that melted the robots down to slag. And there were plenty of others whose effects Elijah didn’t see because he was too busy trying to stay alive.

Because there were always more to take the places of the ones killed by Kurik’s traps. What’s more, they were ahead as well as behind, which forced him to fight his way through the newcomers just so he could stay ahead of the ones who’d been chasing him for miles.

But eventually, he knew that his time would run out. So, after clearing the field of traps, Elijah started searching for an appropriate spot to enact the remainder of his plan. Briefly, he’d considered leading the robots all the way back to the safe zone where he and the others had spent a few days in recovery. However, he’d discarded that notion for two reasons. First, it was a long way off, and though he could move much faster alone than he could when saddled with the rest of his group, it would still take him a couple of days’ worth of steady travel just to get to that destination. Second, he had no intention of leading such a force back to the gnarled tree. He didn’t think the robots could bypass the protective field of vitality it radiated, but he didn’t want to take the chance of being wrong.

So, he’d come up with a different, far simpler plan.

The first part saw him racing up one of the trash mountains. Along the way, he saw more insectile robots, and with every foot he traveled above the surface, the ethera thickened and the monsters grew more powerful. By the time he reached the peak, Elijah was having to fight for every inch, and against creatures that could nearly match him in strength. The only saving grace was that those robots seemed very territorial, and they clearly didn’t see the horde as allies. Instead, they fought against the other insectoid monsters, which kept Elijah from being immediately overwhelmed.

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Still, when he found himself close to the top, he was assaulted by an enormous praying mantis with what appeared to be huge circular saws for arms. It pounced on him with those rotating blades, cutting through Iron Scales with ease. The spindly thing was light, though, and before the cuts went too deep, Elijah lashed out, sending it toppling backwards.

Without another moment of hesitation, he transformed into the Shape of the Sky and launched himself skyward. Immediately, a hail of molten slag shot up at him, but Elijah was ready for the bombardment, and the second he’d gained enough altitude, he tucked his wings close to his body and dove. That threw the monsters’ aim off, and after he’d plummeted close to the ground, he threw his wings out wide, arresting his fall before once again climbing. The ground-bound monsters couldn’t keep up with his erratic movement, so as long as he kept it up, he was relatively safe from their fire.

The same could not be said for the airborne creatures, including the roaches who he’d recently learned could fly. He lashed out with his serpentine head, snapping his jaws around one that tried to dive-bomb him, and he was satisfied with the crunch of twisting metal. Even as he killed that one, three more fell upon his back and started gnawing on his spine. A quick barrel roll dislodged them, but they managed to stop their plummet with furiously beating wings.

Elijah put that to a stop a second later when he swooped back in and destroyed the delicate appendages with his talons. Because there was one thing he’d discovered – while the monsters could fly, they were not nearly as agile or as fast as his flight form. He used that to his advantage as a swarm of the flying roaches ascended with the intention of tearing him to pieces.

Elijah fought back, and for a few moments, he thought he could turn his superior flying abilities into a distinct advantage that would win the day. Yet, his expectations were quickly dashed when the fireflies joined the battle. At one point, he’d thought they were merely early-warning sensors, but that was proven wrong when a swarm of the flashing monsters kamikazed into him, ripping his wings to shreds. That slowed him down just enough that he was hit by a few of the molten projectiles fired from below. And that, in turn, loosened his grip on the battle, spelling his doom when the cockroaches could finally keep up.

With no other choice, he pushed himself higher and higher. With his tattered wings, it felt like he was once again climbing the Singing Cliffs. Though this time, he had to deal with a host of projectiles, swarms of suicidal and exploding fireflies, and a few dozen monstrous flying cockroaches.

Oh, and there was a cargo plane-sized wasp turning in his direction, too. Elijah knew he was in trouble, and the way he saw it, there was only one way out. So, as soon as he reached the limit of his capabilities – which was thousands of feet from the surface but markedly less from the peak of the closest trash mountain – he initiated a dive.

Tucking his shredded wings close to his body, he pulled his head back and plummeted toward the ground. Accelerating to terminal velocity in only a few seconds, he used his tail to subtly guide his path. He zoomed past the cockroaches who, only a moment before, had been in hot pursuit. Then, he tore through a swarm of fireflies, and they exploded against his body, doing far less damage than they had against his wings. Finally, just before he reached his destination, he used Shape of the Guardian.

By the time he hit the wasp’s back, Elijah had taken on the form of a lamellar ape. He thudded into its back, denting the steel paneling and throwing off its flight path. The enormous metal insect hit the side of a trash mountain, filling the air with the screech of metal on metal, but the huge monster managed to right itself before it fell all the way to the ground.

As expected.

Meanwhile, Elijah let loose his inner enraged beast, latching onto one of the panels and ripping it free. That exposed a mass of wires and tubes that looked extremely important. So, he dove in, tearing through them with characteristic ferocity. The monster dipped and rolled, and Elijah was very nearly thrown free. However, before he fell, he clamped onto the edge of the neighboring panel, where he hung as the monster remained inverted.

Fortunately, his ape-like form seemed perfectly suited to hanging from a precipice, so it was only a moment before he once again ripped into those important-looking wires and tubes. With a roar, he tore through the mass of mechanical innards, throwing the pieces out to join the rest of the refuse below. But the wasp remained aloft, its enormous wings creating a downdraft to rival any helicopter.

Elijah didn’t care.

Cockroaches descended upon him, nipping at his scales. Yet, his guardian form was far more durable than Shape of the Sky, and so long as he kept Iron Scales active, it would be a long time before they could bring him down. Each bite earned the creatures a thorn in reprisal, but their metal exoskeletons protected them from too much damage. Still, every now and again, one of the thorns of Shield of Brambles would find a vulnerable spot – like a wing joint – and when it fell, Elijah would have one less insectile robot to deal with.

Still, he was eventually ripped to shreds, his scales having been pried away by persistent mandibles.

But Elijah finished his task when, four feet deep, he destroyed a whirring hunk of machinery. Suddenly, one of the wasp’s wings went still, and it fell from the sky. Elijah only had a moment to brace himself before it hit the ground, kicking up mud and sending detritus tumbling across the junkyard. It also crushed a couple of bugs, but the vast majority of the horde had been left behind as the wasp tried to dislodge him. So, for the moment, he was safe.

Or that was what he thought until he felt a familiar stirring of ethera, and he looked up to see the second wasp aiming its fiery stinger in his direction. Elijah could only watch as it lit up, ready to send a pillar of flame down to melt him where he stood.