Frozen Chains

Chapter 16

Tooth stared out the window, her jaw dropping. Black sand swirled over the snow. It created a mixture of black and white powder, heading straight for the Pole! It was obvious that Pitch was behind it, but she had never imagined he would come back for the boys so quickly.

The boys.

Tooth directed her attention back to Jack and Jay, her heart sinking. The both of them had their gazes fixed on the Nightmares outside, shaking, eyes wide. She could only imagine the panic they were in.

Reacting immediately, Tooth slammed her hand into the red button installed in the wall. North had these positioned all over the factory in case of an emergency, and the Guardians would meet in the place of wherever the button that had been pushed was.  

The lights turned red and a high pitched wailing filled the room. Both boys jumped, Jay straining against his restraints.

"It's okay!" Tooth shouted over the noise, "The others are coming and we'll beat the Nightmares!"

Within three seconds, the other Guardians burst into the room, frantically searching for the threat. Tooth pointed to the window.

The Nightmares were awfully close, now.

"Sandman, stay here with them!" North gestured to Jack and Jay. "Everyone else, come with me to roof!"

Everyone nodded and Sandy waved them out of the room, telling them to hurry.

Tooth sped down the hallway, her wings moving so quickly that they began to get warm. Those Nightmares were not getting into the factory. They weren't going to harm anything. And they sure as hell  were not getting anywhere near those boys!

Down the hall, take a left and then a right, up some stairs and another right. Ignore the elevator and fly up the empty dark shaft, and burst out of a window in the ceiling, glass flying every which way.

Her chest heaving, Tooth stopped flying, landing on her feet on the roof. Brrr, She thought, It's cold...

The Nightmares were creating a sort of dome around the Pole. Tooth saw bursts of gold to her lower left and knew that Sandy was attacking as best as he could from the window.

She shot into the air, driving her head into the stomach of an evil monster horse, wrapping her hands around its head and yanking down. The creature exploded into black sand. The stuff got in her nose and mouth and eye, restricting her breathing and vision.

"Toothy, wait for us!" She heard Bunny yell.

"Hurry up!" Tooth shouted back.

One of the Nightmares next to her disintegrated, and a boomerang came around from behind it before turning and hurtling back towards the roof, where Bunny caught it. 

Good. The others were here.

Tooth swung her foot upwards at an angle, catching a Nightmare in the eye and twisting so that she hopefully destroyed its head. A puff of dark sand confirmed what she hoped, and she turned to the next one.

There were so many! They were all starting to attack her now, too, biting at her feathers, rearing their hooves and smashing them down on her shoulders and arms. 

Too many. Tooth couldn't see an inch in front of her face because of all the Nightmares and loose sand.

What was she going to do?

***

Sandman shot another blast of Sand from the window, watching grimly as a black Nightmare turned into some golden butterflies who flied away, now in search of a sleeping child.

That was what he did best besides giving dreams; turning nightmares into something good.

But there were so many! Sure, Sandy was doing good now, but eventually he would run out of strength. What was he going to do then? He couldn't just give up on Jack and Jay.

The boys were panicked. Jack had his hands over his ears, his lips moving but no sound coming. Jay's eyes were tightly shut, his whole body quivering and shuddering intensely. Horror clearly written across both of their faces.

Sandy gave them what he hoped looked like an encouraging smile and turned back to the window, firing three golden shots of dreamsand at the Nightmares. Two of them disappeared into the flurry of beasts, only one actually hitting a dark horse. This was difficult.

Sandman scolded himself. If one thought depressing thoughts, then depressing things would return to one sooner or later. Instead of saying 'this was difficult,' he should have said, 'I will have to work to succeed.' That was how he always remained so cheerful despite the fact he couldn't speak.

Whump!

Pain exploded in Sandy's back. He looked down and saw dark lines spreading over his body, tightening, constricting, blocking oxygen to his body. This had happened only once before, when...

When Pitch had shot him with an arrow.

Inhaling sharply, Sandy reached back and yanked the arrow out of his back, but it was too late. The darkness was engulfing him, swallowing him whole.

Sandman looked into the darkest corner of the room, anger washing over him in a powerful wave.

A laughing pair of golden eyes looked back.

"Why, hello, Sandman." Pitch chuckled as Sandy struggled to stand, let alone breathe. "What do you think of my little distraction?"

Horror flicked across Sandy's face.

Just a distraction. The Guardians were up on the roof fighting Nightmares, leaving only Sandman to protect the boys.

Jay whimpered from the back of the room, his blue eyes huge with fear.

"Shut it, you." Pitch snapped at him, then turned back to Sandy. "Your Guardian friends really are stupid. Of course Toothiana would hit that button, foolishly thing she was doing the right thing, and because of it, you're dying. You're dying, and leaving Jack and Jay here alone at my disposal."

He couldn't believe it. This was how Sandman was going to go; being hit from the shadows by a coward who fired while their opponents back was turned.

Sandman tried to fight off the blackness that was obscuring his vision, but Pitch was right. He was dying.

Sandy's vision went out. Then his hearing, he couldn't hear the Nightmares or Pitch laughing or anything else, and then he lost all feeling. Sandman couldn't feel a thing.

Because he was gone, gone, gone, gone, just like a grain of sand getting blown away by the warm winds at the beach.

Gone.