Kellen swung onto the back of the storm horse in a smooth motion that the version of him five days ago would have been jealous of. That is, he would have been jealous if it weren’t for the ominous cloud of dust, smoke and embers building on the horizon. As the fire cloud billowed higher into the sky, the rumbling grew to the sound of rolling thunder. Kellen imagined the thousands of hooves drumming across the grasslands and a cold spike of fear stabbed his heart.

“Don’t just stand there, we’ve gotta run for it!”

Vex’s warning drew Kellen from his trance of fear. He kicked the storm horse hard in the sides with his heels and hung on for dear life with white knuckles. The horse pounded across the tall grass, eager to catch up with the rest of the herd a few strides ahead. It moved at an all out gallop, needing no further encouragement from Kellen, who did his best just to stay seated. Finding the timing of the horse’s back was much faster and harder to match at top speed and falling meant reliably certain death.

They hadn’t gone more than a football field when Kellen glanced back. He immediately wished he hadn’t. The only rider behind Kellen was Nokom who appeared to be conjuring a tailwind to push them along. That wasn’t what drew Kellen’s attention. Above the line of leaping fire and smoke, the sky boiled in grays and blacks. It didn’t take a lifetime living on the plains to tell a monster storm brewed. Lightning cracked the eerie expanse and true thunder boomed over the sound of the stampeding herd. Nokom seemed to sense the building storm and ceased her channeling at once. She willed her storm horse to an even faster speed, drawing next to Kellen.

“Even worse than a stampede!” she shouted as loud as she could over the cacophony behind them. “Mana storm! Can’t outrun it, have to find shelter!”

A manic laugh almost escaped Kellen. Shelter? Where? They were in the middle of a giant prairie with literally nowhere to run or hide.

“Head for the closest Tall Spear!”

Before Kellen could confirm he’d heard, she was gone to catch Tama, hand waving overhead. Through his jarring vision on the back of the speeding horse, Kellen saw the chief look back. If possible, he grew even more scared when he saw the look of terror on the chief’s face upon seeing the mana storm building overhead. She needed no further encouragement from Nokom and immediately turned the band at a full gallop, heading for the nearest rock.

Throughout their days of journeying, Kellen accepted the geographically unexplainable drunken spires as part of the landscape. Their seemingly random placement meant sometimes they passed right by a rock column and other times they were miles away. Nokom hadn’t asked Kellen to climb another one, so he hadn’t given them much mind. Now, when Kellen would give anything to hide in the shadow of the twisting rock pillar, the closest appeared over a half mile away.

Another glance back painted a chilling picture: illuminated by flashes of purple and blue lightning, Kellen could make out the moving mass that was the herd of fire bison. The winds of the storm blew away the dust and smoke covering the herd, revealing a wall of rolling black streaked with fire. If the flames came from the stampeding herd or the mana storm, Kellen couldn’t say. And it seemed the herd gained on them in spite of the valiant efforts of the storm horses.

Onward they ran, the tall grass whipping so hard at the legs and the chest of the storm horse, Kellen couldn’t believe it hadn’t cut the animal and drawn blood. Vex struggled in the ever-shifting winds of the storm front but kept up, his little wings flapping for all their worth. He’d tried twice to land, but between the gusts and the galloping horse, Kellen couldn’t catch the little fox.

“Hang in there, buddy!” Kellen shouted over the whipping wind.

“Don’t buddy me!” Vex said, apparently still mad even with the sudden apocalypse.

A streak of silver light cut through the darkening sky above them, ending the exchange. Kellen gasped. A great bird, the size of a commercial airplane, soared on the vanguard of the mana storm. Lightning crackled and sparked with every wing beat. Its speed made Kellen feel like he was standing still. Soon another shot by, followed by three more. They broke formation, twisting and spinning through the enraged atmosphere like Top Gun pilots. The hair on Kellen’s arms and neck stood up and the electric scent of ozone filled the crackling air. Kellen knew the signs, but what could he do on the back of a sprinting horse with a stampede at his back?

The first strike of lightning exploded on contact with the ground, a bowshot to their left. An instant later, flames licked at the dried grass.

BOOM! The thunder rolled so loud Kellen thought it might knock him off the back of the horse. A blinding light flashed ahead of them and another bolt hit only yards away from Tama in the lead of the race.

“Vex, you’ve got to get out of the sky!” Kellen shouted.

If Vex heard him, Kellen couldn’t tell. The golden Mana Beast fought against the howling winds, pushing forward and buffeted every which way. Kellen again wondered if he should stop. He glanced ahead. The rock spire looked less than two football fields away. When he glanced back, the leaders of the stampede — enormous bull buffalo that snorted fire, with horns and hooves that glowed like hot coals — greeted him. The wall of death was much closer now, close enough it would be a race to reach the rock in time. There would be no stopping for Vex if he fell behind. But in the sky, Vex remained leagues safer than Kellen on the ground.

More lightning strikes lanced the ground all around them, each conjuring a brush fire of its own. The brave storm horses didn’t flinch or stray from their course. Wind sliced at Kellen’s face, burning his eyes and tearing at his clothes. He told himself just to hang on, to just last a little longer. Had he had even a second to think about it, he might have wondered what protection a lone pillar of rock would provide them against a half dozen different promises of death. At the moment, his mind clung to the rock as protection, like a drowning man stretching for a life preserver.

“Come on!” Kellen urged his horse. He was only a few lengths behind the rest of the band, but it felt like miles. He allowed a small glimmer of hope. They were going to make it.

“Kellen, help!”

A chord of fear reverberated through Kellen’s senses. Glancing back, he saw a flash of gold as Vex tumbled through the sky.

“Vex!”

Kellen hauled back on the reins. The storm horse refused to slow when the rest of the herd charged onward.

“Whoa!” he screamed, pulling with all his might. “Whoa!”

The storm horse ignored him, plunging onward to catch its herd mates. Kellen let his left hand slacken and jerk harder on the right reins. “Turn around!” If he couldn’t stop the storm horse, maybe he could head it for Vex. Lowering its head, the horse drove onward.

Kellen had never felt so helpless in his life. Each moment, Vex got farther and farther away. But what other choice did Kellen have? Indecision and crippling fear gripped him, the all-too familiar squeeze on his chest and stomach. All his regrets reared up to witness yet another in the making. He was abandoning Vex. It took all he had just to stay on the horse.

Then he knew the answer. There was something, after all. It might kill him, but better than hating himself for doing nothing later.

Kellen glanced down at the grass whipping by beneath the storm horse’s pounding hooves. He shut his eyes and held out his left hand. Rolling off the right side of the horse, Kellen extended his left hand, glowing with golden light, and fell. A cracked, half-formed shield the size of a trash can lid formed just in time for Kellen to crash through it. He rolled and rolled in a violent tumble of bouncing limbs. When he finally came to a standstill, he gaped for air like a fish tossed onto the shore. The shield had done little to break the fall, however, a quick check revealed no broken bones.

“Kellen!”

Vex’s cry brought Kellen to his feet… or at least his hands and knees. Still gasping, he looked back toward the wall of fire bison and spotted Vex. The Mana Beast had returned to his fox form and bounded for Kellen. There was no way he would outrun the herd.

Kellen pushed himself to his feet and ran to meet Vex, ignoring pains throbbing throughout his body. He scooped the little fox up into his arms and only then realized what he’d done.

On foot, they were still dozens of yards from the rock outcrop. At the speed the stampede approached, they wouldn’t make it to safety in time. Kellen scooped Vex into his arms and pivoted from the charging herd. His right knee buckled, and they fell in a heap.

“What happened?” Vex asked from in Kellen’s arms. “Are you okay?”

Kellen tried to stand, but his knee lanced with pain in protest and gave out. “Must have twisted it funny when I got off the horse.”

He put Vex down and pushed himself up again, using his left leg to hold his weight. Cautiously, Kellen tested the right leg. It hurt, but held enough to limp forward. Through the whirlwind, smoke and dust, Kellen made out the others, who’d just reached the rock outcrop. Vex voiced both their thoughts.

“We’re not going to make it.”

Kellen gritted his teeth. He refused to die here and leave Allison enslaved in a strange world. “We’ve got to try.”

Reaching into his beast heart, Kellen found a trickle of mana. Nokom had only taught him how to use it to recover, but he focused the flow toward his knee, like a drop of water running down bare rock at the end of a rainstorm. His knee warmed and the sharp pain turned dull. Kellen’s limp became a lopsided jog. He looked back at the herd, now less than a quarter mile away, and showing no signs of stopping. At his side, Vex looked up in concern.

“Go,” Kellen yelled over the wind. “You might not make the rock in your bat form, but at least you can fly over the stampeded.”

Vex’s bright green eyes hardened. “You shouldn’t have come back for me. I probably would have survived.”

Kellen shook his head. “You wouldn’t have left me.”

Together, the pair ambled forward. Kellen swore he could feel the ground shaking beneath his feet now. Overhead, lightning smote the sky and thunder boomed. The air was thick with the scent of electricity and wild fire. Other than the rock outcrop where the others gathered, there was no refuge in sight. The wind whipped so hard, Kellen had to shield his eyes against the bits of rock, dirt, and grass flying about. His clothes strained against him like a ship’s sails caught in a hurricane.

His mind raced. What could they do? The stampeding fire bison would be on them in minutes, and there was nothing to hide behind.

But there was. A chance, at least. Kellen dropped to one knee. There was no time for a dance. He raised his hands, willing the golden sun mana into a shield large enough to cover himself and Vex. Heart pounding, adrenaline raging, hands shaking, it was all Kellen could do to focus. The shield spluttered to life, veins of light stretching out like a spiderweb materializing in the air.

“You’ve got this!” Vex shouted.

Like a dry creek bed after a rain, the last drops of mana drained from Kellen. His shield was only half-formed, a shattered mirror meant to stop a force of nature. Kellen reached deeper, dug for more. The herd was close enough to make out individual animals now, great bulls twice the size of any buffalo Kellen had seen on family trips to Yellowstone. In his heart — both his hearts — he knew it wouldn’t be enough, but still he reached for more.

“Behind us!”

Whether it was hope or desperation, Kellen’s focus cracked at Vex’s shout. The golden shield cracked with it, hot, overcharged mana rushing back through Kellen’s veins into his chest. He turned just in time to see a rider cut through the storm. Shani jerked her storm horse to a stop, spinning as she did.

“Get on!”

Kellen grabbed her extended hand and Shani hauled him up behind her with surprising strength. Vex jumped into the gap between them and Kellen just had time to wrap his arms around the warrior before the storm horse shot off at an outright gallop.

The wind howled, its sharp pitch cutting through an omnipotent rumbling of thunder and hooves drumming nearer, nearer. Kellen gripped Shani’s waist tighter and craned his neck behind them. Knives of fire rose from the snorting noses of the buffalo and flames licked their hooves. Their eyes glowed red, like a herd from hell coming for their souls. Behind the leaders, Kellen saw no end to the churning mass of black animals.

“They’re getting closer!” Kellen screamed into Shani’s ear. In reply, Shani kicked the storm horse harder, willing every bit of speed from their mount. Though the animal strained even harder, it would not be enough.

Kellen wanted to yell at Vex to take flight. There was no time. Behind them, the leader closed in. It was death, inescapable death. In that moment, Kellen knew he had nothing to lose. He’d never felt so certain, so sure, so strangely calm. One hand gripping and pressing Vex between the two of them, Kellen twisted on the tumultuous horseback. He could feel the storm horse slowing beneath them, its strides shortening from the weight of two riders and a second all-out race.

The fear faded, like the calm in the eye of a storm. If this failed, it didn’t matter because they had no chance otherwise. At the realization, his mana surged to life within him, stronger than it had with any dance.

Kellen raised a hand overhead and a golden sphere grew from the tendrils of light flowing from his fingertips. The storm horse stumbled but kept its footing. Its body quivered beneath them.

At the same moment the herd reached them, the sphere closed around Vex, Kellen, Shani and the storm horse.

Kellen closed his eyes, holding his aching arm overhead, ignoring the impact of ton-sized animals striking their barrier at full speed. It felt like a landslide battering them from all sides. The horse stumbled like a pinball in a tornado but didn’t go down. Kellen kept his eyes closed, knowing if he opened them and saw the tidal wave of buffalo raging around them, he would falter and the stampede would trample them to nothing. How many miles long was the herd? How long could he last? No — how long did he have to last?

Clenching his jaws so hard his teeth ached, Kellen willed the mana to flow. In the back of his mind, he sensed Vex, the crackling purple-infused storm overhead, and even the giant birds. Mana filled the air, thick as the smoke, but he hadn’t sensed it until then. Kellen reached for it, pulling in the energy to feed it directly to his shield. It was like drinking from a fire hydrant — at any moment Kellen expected to be blasted to pieces. A particularly strong blow rocked them and Kellen lurched, almost falling from the horse, whose sides heaved as it valiantly pushed on no faster than a trot.

Then it happened. The animal sank to its knees, in spite of Shani’s screams. Kellen’s hand stayed high. A deafening rumble shook him to the bone, yet he held his hand. Bursts of white light filled his closed eyes. He counted to ten, then counted again. All he had to do was hold on for ten more seconds, he told himself each time. Ten more seconds. The strikes grew less frequent, less powerful. Ten more. Ten more. Ten more…