He didn’t want it to rain. Rain would mean water, and water was a dreadful thing. Wasn’t it? Water would kill you if you let it. Drown you. Which was why he’d rather walk through the fires of hell than drown in a lake.

“Fire!” one of the guarding bats cried. “It’s fire!”

Alucard seemed to have frozen into a tree. But his trance didn’t last long. His wings snapped wide like a black kite, and he leaped off the platform with surprising strength. “Fire!” he screeched.

Fire?

“ENOUGH!” DARSAL YELLED ABOVE THE HUGE CRACKLING flames that licked at the black trees. “We’re out of time!”

Billos was standing in his stirrups, swinging his sword in wide circles with both hands as if it were a club. No fewer than ten Shataiki came at him from all sides, screaming in death-defying dives.

His blade connected with the lead bat, cutting its cry off at the neck. He dodged another, knocking it wide with his forearm, then drove down on the beast’s back.

His horse trampled the bat and reared. Billos was now in his element, showing why he’d been selected by Thomas as one of the four greatest fighters to join the Forest Guard.

Darsal threw her flaming torch into a pile of dried moss and snatched her sword up just in time to defend against the jaws of another bat who, seeing her let loose of her fire, dove in expecting an easy prey. Not so. Darsal was nearly as efficient with her blade as Billos was. She ducked in the way Gabil had suggested and thrust the blade up through the bat’s jaw, pinning its mouth shut. Then she flung it behind her and screamed at another bat soaring in.

This Shataiki thought better of it and broke off its attack just short of her blade’s reach.

The black bats were terrified of fire—this alone had given Darsal and Billos the advantage. Gabil had sworn nothing less when he’d given them the resin and flint.

“Set the forest on fire!” he’d said. “As long as you’re near fire, the bats will hesitate. Burn the whole forest and ride the edge of the flames all the way to Teeleh’s lair.”

“How do we get out?”

“That’s Michal’s part,” the Roush had said. “Go. Hurry! And don’t forget about the karate!”

They’d lit the torches before reaching the cliff’s edge, then approached at a full gallop, with such speed that the few Shataiki on the bowl’s lip had been thrown into confusion. By the time the bats realized what was happening, Darsal and Billos had their horses running down the unsteady bridge and were warding off the bats with fire.

At the edge of the black trees, they had taken off in opposite directions, as planned. Billos went north, Darsal south, thrusting fire into the foliage as they galloped.