All That Lives Must Die - Eric Nylund [137]
They’d made the course harder.
Eliot jogged up to her, skidded to a halt, and took in the sight.
“This is wrong,” she whispered.
“Very wrong,” he said, and nodded to the far side of the coliseum.
Team Green Dragon had gathered there. They spotted Fiona and Eliot and moved toward them . . . a slow trot, and then a faster run.
And just emerging around the opposite side of the jungle gym was Team Wolf . . . Donald van Wyck at the head of his pack.
Mr. Ma was nowhere in sight.
“This is not good,” Robert said, joining them.
Jezebel limped up next to Eliot. “As you said . . . there was one more part of the test to pass.”
“How can that be?” Sarah asked. She stood with them in a line, facing the other teams. “There can’t be three teams on the field at once.”
Van Wyck called as he approached, “Has to be a mistake, huh? Green Dragon and Wolf matched against Scarab?” His pale face split into a wicked grin, and he turned to the Dragons. “Whatever shall we do about it?”
The Captain of the Dragons was a boy who looked like a weight lifter. “Rules are clear,” he said. “If there’s a Dragon flag, we’re going to get to it—and stop our opposition from getting to theirs.”
Van Wyck halted and turned to the jungle gym.
The Wolf flag unfurled next to the Dragon’s . . . and on the opposite corner, the Team Scarab banner appeared, rippling in the wind.
All the joy Fiona had felt a moment ago curdled. She remembered Van Wyck’s promise never to hurt anyone on her team—except in gym class, where violence was encouraged . . . and lethal violence allowed.
Jeremy and Mitch trotted up last, joining the rest of Team Scarab on the field.
“We won’t play,” Fiona told them. “They can’t do this.”
“They are doing it,” Jeremy declared, “whether we play or not, dearie.”
Mitch said nothing, but moved to Fiona’s side. A ball of white-blue light appeared and smoldered in his clenched hand.
Fiona’s mind floundered. There were outnumbered, outpowered, about to get pounced on and torn to bits.
Eliot was unfazed. He took out Lady Dawn and set the instrument on his shoulder. “I’m ready to fight,” he told her. “Tell us what to do.”
Eliot’s unwavering confidence snapped Fiona out of her panic.
“Okay,” she told them. “I’ve got a plan—listen.”
Just then, however, Van Wyck took out Mr. Ma’s starting pistol.
If that was supposed to scare Fiona, it wouldn’t. That thing fired only blanks.
But he didn’t point the gun at her; instead, he aimed it into the air and—with the remaining three fingers on his hand—fired.
35. Clan Kaleb are renowned for magic that enhances their fierce combat abilities. They receive extensive martial arts, blade, and marksman training prior to reaching puberty. Childhood mortality is common. The clan originates from nomadic desert tribesmen and can trace their lineage to 2600 B.C.E. There is an ancient saying about Kaleb warriors: “Only fools battle the desert winds.” Gods of the First and Twenty-first Century, Volume 14, The Mortal Magical Families. Zypheron Press Ltd., Eighth Edition.
36. In 1852, the war between the London Confederation of the Unliving (a loose alliance of undead factions) and mortal magical families (Covington, Gower, and Van Wyck) halted after three hundred years. The League of Immortals brokered an armistice for the living to retain possession of their Earthly realm. The Confederation of the Unliving were given dominion over the London Warrens and the adjacent Gloom Lands. Earth, while open to visitation and even residency, remains off-limits for predation by the undead. Although breaches do occur, the Confederation maintains an internal enforcement division to police offenders. Gods of the First and Twenty-first Century, Volume 7, Those That Live Not. Zypheron Press Ltd., Eighth Edition.
37. Although many variations of the “Alphabet of the Angels” appear in medieval grimoires, perhaps most notably in the infamous Beezle edition Mythica Improbiba (Taylor Institution Library Rare Book collection,