Chapter 15

15.
         There was a raging groan again and the castle bucked once more, causing everyone who had managed to stay on their feet the first time to join the others on the stone floor. Tristian felt his shoulder wrench as it hit the floor at an odd angle, but he was back on his feet just as quickly. A cursory scan of the room showed that everyone seemed okay. Johan was helping Michelle up from the ground. Even from here Tristian couldn't tell which of them was paler.
         The Agent was still on his feet, as usual, but bent over his brother. Tristian staggered his way back over to the Agent, conscious of the rumblings of the castle all around them.
         "What is going on here?" he shouted over the dim of the panicking people. The air was filled with colors as mages cast shields or teleported themselves and others away. In the distance an alarm bell was ringing, slowly and ominiously. "What did the Shadow do?"
         "Nothing," Agent One said grimly, and before Tristian could comment on that, he added, "It's what the Dark Riders did." His eyes were only on his brother, who was writhing still on the floor, almost in time with the dying castle. Wordless gasps came from his mouth. "When we first got here, you were told that the most powerful mages were the power behind the floating castle." Agent One licked his dry lips, an oddly human gesture. "That was a lie. A long time ago we-"
         "You will be silent, Magent!" the king bellowed from his throne. "The secrets behind the castle are not to be known by any but the royal family and we will not-"
         "Shut up!" Agent One roared, spinning on the king. "Things are falling apart as we speak and I will not be held back by petty protocol and ritual!" The king blinked and sat back down violently, as if struck. Turning back to Tristian he said quickly, "To keep the castle in the air, we imprisoned some air spirits that were being bothersome in a series of crystals and placed them around the castle." He sighed. "Obviously we didn't hide them well enough. The Dark Riders are going around destroying them as we speak. One will be enough to keep us safetly in the air."
         "How many are left?" Tristian asked quietly, already feeling that he knew the answer.
         "One," Agent One replied simply. "Those two jolts were the other two getting destroyed. The last one is fairly well hidden and might be protected, if anyone here has any brains."
         "Okay but-" and a shout from off to the side, sounding like Johan's voice alerted him to a menace from above. He noticed the shadow the second before it swooped down on him and a dragon like growl met his ears even as he dove. Two other guards weren't so lucky and he heard the sickening thuds even as he dodged two round helmeted objects on his way back to his feet.
         "It just appeared . . . out of nowhere!" Johan said, suddenly at his side. And it was huge, scary, with fur around the collar and eyes that blazed like beacons. Wings flapped in the too small space but it didn't seem to need them to stay aloft.
         A red shield flared up, appearing around the entire throne area even as the creature, a dragon perhaps, made another pass down at them. It sailed into the barrier, which crackled and snapped even as the creature roared in pain and flew straight up. Then it started to turn again.
         "Tristian!" Agent One shouted. "Take Johan and Michelle and get the hell out of here! Protect the crystal until I can think of something more permanent."
         Tristian stared at the thing above. It had grabbed a guard and was holding it, playing with it, giving it a dozen cuts before finally boring of the game and biting his head off in one singular motion. There was a sword lying nearby and it was in Tristian's hand before he realized what he was doing.
         But there was the barrier.
         Johan behind was grabbing the other sword, trying his best not to stare at the headless bodies. Tristian took a step toward the barrier.
         "Tristian, dammit!" Agent One yelled and there was almost fear in his voice. "We don't have time for you to play hero. I'll protect as many people as I can, but you have to stop the Dark Riders!"
         Tristian didn't answer. More guards were trying to surround the dragon, prodding and stabbing at it with swords that were little more than matchsticks. With one giant hand it swept them aside like dolls. The dragon's foot came down on one and Tristian thought he heard a prayer expelled from screaming lips.
         Behind him, Johan grabbed his shoulder. "Tristian, the Magent has spoken, we have to get out of here."
         Tristian didn't look away from the battle outside. "They're dying out there, Johan."
         "And if the castle falls, what then, Tristian? Will you save these few so that everyone dies? We have to go."
         Tristian let himself stare at the sight for a moment longer, ingraining on his memory, until he could stare no longer. With an effort he tore himself away, shaking off Johan's hand and heading for the door. Michelle glanced at Johan as they followed Tristian, almost running to keep up.
         Agent One shook his head as he watched them leave. "Why does he have to be so singleminded?" he asked the air.
         "And . . . like you're the . . . epitome of . . . flexibility . . . pal . . ."
         The voice was a gasp from below, a hoarse rasp against the unconsquerable.
         Agent One stared down as his brother stared up at him. Then Agent One smiled thinly. "I think you live for moments like that. Welcome back."
         "Yeah . . ." Agent Two shifted to a sideways position, wincing as he did so, "thanks a whole bunch. Care to fill me in on what's going on?"
         "In a nutshell, we're about to tumble from the sky. Still glad to be back?"
         Agent Two grinned. "Hell the impact isn't going to do anything to us . . ." and his grin faded, "but these people . . . there's going to be a lot of pulped people if something isn't done."
         "Tristian's on it now," came the terse reply.
         "Ah," was all his brother said.
         And the dragon slammed up against the shield.

* * * * *
         All three of them were barreling down the corridor, the shouts and screams from the throne room not growing any fainter the farther they got.
         "The entire castle seems under siege," Johan noted, breathing heavily as they came to a stop. In the distance there were clangs and yells, thuds and whimpers. Tristian thought his nose caught the scent of smoke.
         "The Shadow must have teleported a whole bunch of nasties in here to keep us busy," Tristian said tersely. His soul cried out to run and help the shouts that he heard but there was nothing he could do. He had to let some die so that everyone could live. And even then he didn't know how much of a chance they had.
         Michelle pulled her robes tighter around herself and shivered. "The Shadow. Even the name sounds purely evil."
         "He is pure evil," Tristian replied.
         "I looked at him and . . ." she shuddered, "all I saw was darkness. Not even just blackness but the total absence of light." She stared at Tristian. "He wants everything to be that way. I could feel it."
         "He seemed to know you, Tristian," Johan said, staring right at Tristian. "Even as you knew him."
         "We've . . . encountered each other before," Tristian explained vaguely, not wanting to elaborate. "None of them are very pleasant memories, unfortunately. I've fought Dark Riders as well and I know that they're extremely dangerous."
         "The Magent," Michelle said slowly, "the other one, that the . . . Shadow dropped. He looked . . . dead. Is the Shadow that powerful, Tristian? Is there any hope for us?"
         Tristian found himself smiling at her. "I thought you'd be the one telling us to have hope." His smile faded. "But the Shadow could kill us all without much effort. Though he won't attack directly, it'll be through his minions. That's where our problem will be." Standing for a second, thinking, he said, "Michelle, do you have any idea where the third crystal might be? Being that it's magic, you might be able to detect it."
         "I . . . I'll try," and her eyes glazed over as she peered into visions that nobody else could even fathom. Her mouth moved like she was talking to something.
         "Tristian, if Michelle can find the crystal, that means the Dark Riders might be able to find it as well," Johan said, glancing around constantly. His sword was at his belt but his hand was never far from the hilt. There were creakings and thumpings from seemingly everywhere.
         "From what I know, the Dark Riders can't use magic, which might be the thing that saves us. But they have the numbers and time is one their side. All they have to do is find it, we're the ones who have to hold them off."
         "Found it!" Michelle suddenly said, her eyes snapping open. At one point she must have closed them. "It's disguised as something else, so I passed over it the first few times. But I found it."
         "Great," Tristian said, feeling that this was going far easier than it should be. "Can you get us there?"
         Michelle closed her eyes again and blue flickered around her hair but after a moment she opened her eyes and shook her head slowly. "I can't," she told them. "There's some sort of protection around it to keep people from teleporting near it."
         "But you know where it is?" Tristian asked her.
         "Yes, I can lead the way." She brushed past Tristian and even through her robes, through that faintest of contact, he could sense her fear. She thought she was going to die, that she wouldn't live to see the end of this. They all felt the same way. But as she swept past, Tristian glanced at Johan and saw that blunt intent written in his eyes. No one else was going to die today. Tristian knew that his expression was a reflection of that.
         "How far off is it?" he asked her, now jogging to keep up with her. Johan followed along in the rear, always staring around, trying to keep an eye out for things. Tristian knew that when the attack came, if it did, there'd be nothing they could do to stop it.
         "It's actually not that far, but we might have to-oh!" and they turned the corner just in time to run right into a pair of Dark Riders. The yellow eyes glared at them and they glanced at each other before starting to move toward Tristian and company.
         "No!" he yelled, scrambling forward and tackling one before it could do anything else. The body might be thin and wiry but they were certainly strong and it twisted to try and throw Tristian to the floor. The other one went for Johan and he heard the man draw his sword.
         He had to end this fast, they weren't ready for a protracted battle against Dark Riders. A lightning fast fist slammed at his head but Tristian jerked his head to the side, grabbing the air and pulling. The Dark Rider twitched forward and Tristian stepped up and behind it, swinging the air back, feeling the shoulder grind and give, even as he placed his other hand on the back on the head and cracked it as hard as he could into the wall. His head pressed into something soft at the back of the head and the Dark Rider gave a small squeak and fell silent.
         Dropping the now dead Dark Rider, he saw Johan score a cut against it. But no blood flowed out at all, even as Johan danced back and slashed it across the chest. His sword caused sparks in the air but the Dark Rider merely laughed softly and stepped forward. Its hand was going to the sheath at its belt and Tristian knew what was coming next. He couldn't let it take the sword out, or they'd all be dead. All Dark Riders carried the same weapon.
         He was in motion even as the Dark Rider whipped its other hand across Johan's face in a too fast motion. Johan spun and hit the wall, his head snapping back. He didn't fall but he shook his head, dazed. Michelle stood there, the action going too fast around here to do anything. Her body seemed to glow blue, as if she was readying something but Tristian didn't have time to ponder that.
         The Dark Rider had his hand upon the hilt. Tristian leapt forward, not even bothering with the sword, slashing his hand across, cracking the Dark Rider across the face, spinning it around to face him.
         The eyes glittered when they stared at him.
         "Tristian," was all it said.
         The only answer was a snarl from Tristian and a blurring of motion that the Dark Rider couldn't fight back against. In seconds it was sliding down the wall, limbs thrashing out at odd angles.
         Blinking sweat from his eyes, Tristian spun to see Michelle holding Johan up. Her hands were around his face and a blue light was sighing from them.
         "How is he?" Tristian asked, nearly breathless.
         "Barely conscious . . ." but her eyes were wide as they regarded him. "How do you fight like that?"
         "A little bit of my soul at a time," Tristian replied grimly. Already there were more flickerings from down the hall. "We have to get going," he said, "is Johan able to stand at least."
         Michelle shook him a little and he numbly seemed to stand up. The grip around his sword had turned his knuckles pure white. He was going to keep fighting.
         "I think so," Michelle said after a moment.
         "Then I can handle the rest," Tristian responded, helping Johan get sturdier on his feet. Just as they got him to his feet, something rocked the castle again, flinging everyone to the floor. Tristian hit the ground hard, Michelle nearly landing on top of him. A sudden image of the castle slamming into the ground filled him and he strained his senses for signs of falling. He registered nothing.
         Michelle was struggling to get up, her face very pale all of a sudden. "The vibrations they can't be . . ." she spun on Tristian. "We have to run! Now!"
         "That's what I've been saying," Tristian said somewhat irritibly, getting to his feet again.
         And Michelle was shouting something again, just as she slammed into him. Tristian saw a flash of bright gold, streaked with black and the wall behind him crumpled. Fresh cold air hit his face.
         Something with a cloak and hood and glowing eyes was stepping through the wall. "Clever humans, evading us for so long. This shall be your stand, and your demise." It's hands were glowing gold and black. Colors flared and leapt toward them, almost snapping hungrily.
         "Tristian!" Michelle yelled, throwing her hands out, the blue of her colors meeting in the center, all the colors flashing and canceling, the entire thing happening suddenly, silently. Cold fire. The force staggered her back against him, even as she pushed him away. He finally made the grab for his sword, throwing it straight at the demon.
         It cackled at him. "A present for me? I've done little to deserve it, I think. But I accept it anyway." The sword stopped in mid flight, but Tristian was already moving, having only wanted the weapon as a distraction. Out of the corner of his eye he saw blue flare and the demon almost shrieked. The sword hovered in mid air, reversed itself and then started moving again. Tristian prepared to duck but it sailed over his head and only at the last second did he realize its destination.
         "Michelle!" he screamed but distracted by the magical battle she didn't see the sword until it had impacted with her head. The blue around her flickered and burnt out even as her eyes fluttered and blood leaked down her face. Near the hole blown in the wall, she started to fall.
         Tristian shifted direction and went to grab her, feeling her weight pulling him down even as he managed to get a fistfull of her robe. With all his strength he started to pull her back into the castle.
         But then his world became reversed as gold and black rimmed his vision. He felt like a lightning rod even as the world hovered and blinked around him. His entire body seized and went numb, just enough for the balance to tip over. Nerves not responding, still grasping Michelle with all his might, he felt himself topple and fall.
         Blue sky and laughter surrounded him as his world fell away.