I fell.
It was only about fifteen feet high, but as soon as my feet hit the ground, I crouched and sprinted forward.
“DASH!”
I saw Sipher coming from my left and Trent coming from my right. I was slower than either of them, but that didn’t matter, what mattered was that Trent was faster.
The old man grabbed me with his right hand and tossed me behind him as he continued forward and grabbed Sipher by the collar with his left.
Rix appeared beside me and pulled me up, dragging me closer to the RV.
“Thanks for the monsters!” I looked at the boss monsters that were still spawning. “How’re you doing that?” I looked in her hands. "Where’s the book?”
Rix shrugged. "The book burned up.” She pointed her knife at the monsters. "That’s not me.”
“It’s me.” Jord Dinx walked around the side of the RV. He had the purple summoning book that Trent had sent for Glima to use. He also had the bag of crystals that Justia was supposed to be using to fuel the shield.
The brunette Caster looked at me with blue eyes that were bright for the first time since I’d known him. He nodded, then put another crystal over a page in the book. The crystal began to dissolve and a giant skeleton appeared.
“I can’t control them, but I can summon them.” His eyes scanned the battlefield. He flinched when he saw Whisper, but pulled two crystals out of the bag and dropped the bosses on top of the Bandit.
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The blonde destroyed them with barely moving.
Jord was sweating profusely, but he set his jaw and didn’t bother to look at what he was summoning, he just kept throwing monster after monster at the other man.
Hye stepped in between us. "Back away.”
Whisper looked like he might attack, until someone yelled. "It’s the Enforcers!”
The blonde Bandit smirked, then started backing up and headed for a Chaser. There were only two left that could run and the Bandits that were still alive climbed into the two and sped away.
Leaving only the Bandit under Trent left.
The old man was punching the bloodied Bandit, who was laughing.
Trent grabbed the Bandit leader with both hands. "What’s so funny?”
“You think you’ve won?” Sipher was slurring his words. "You made a pact! You can’t kill me!” He looked over at Hye. "You were in the pact too, so you can’t kill me either!” He looked up at the sky that was just starting to lighten. "And nobody else here is strong enough to kill me!” His laughter was giving me shivers.
“It doesn’t matter.” Trent rolled Sipher over and began to put cuffs on him. "You’re going in a hole that never sees sunlight.”
“You think I’m going to stay in jail?” Sipher slurred his words. "HA! I’ve got too many friends! Friends that would very much like it if I wasn’t somewhere that I might accidentally let a few of their secrets slip.” He laughed more. "I’ll be out by tomorrow morning.” His eyes fixed on me. "And then I’m coming for you.”
I could feel the pressure behind his gaze. His honesty. I knew for a fact that he was going to come after me again. They were never going to let me leave.
“He’s right.” I cleared my throat. "We can’t hand him over.”
“The little pup’s got stones!” Sipher sagged in Trent’s grip. "You think your little toothpick is going to hurt me?”
I tightened my fists. He was right. We’d barely been able to stun Glima and she was only a Tier Three.
A new voice cut off my thoughts.
“He’s right, we can’t hand him over.”
I looked up and saw the redheaded Deacon that was supposed to be dead limping towards us.
Gesai was alive!