Chapter 50 - Cammon
Cammon
L
Blood dripped from multiple points on my body where the sharpest, strongest teeth and claws had pierced my thickened skin.
One of my wings was torn, the other so weighed down with gore I could barely lift it.
But I didn’t retract them, using them to shield my back from the dozens of mutts still tearing into me.
My claws were caked in blood and viscera, as were my horns.
Exhaustion tugged on every limb. I didn’t let any of it stop me.
Corpses covered the ground, making it as hard for my enemies to manoeuvre as it was for me, and I shifted my stance to position myself in the middle of them, again opening space. Just for a moment—a mere breath before they swarmed the fallen and renewed their attack.
Finally, I spotted Donal in the horde. He kept moving, putting the mutts between us, but Leto and Sabina had obviously made him promise to witness my death with his own eyes—and that vow would guarantee his end.
I leapt into the air and coasted over the heads of the reaching mutts, the agony in my broken wing making my eyes water.
When I landed in front of my brother, he stumbled backwards.
The mutts were still coming, pulling at my arms, tugging on my tail.
I shook them off and reached for Donal’s throat.
He grinned and launched himself into the sky.
I snarled after him before being dragged back into the battle.
I cut the beasts down, wrapped my tail around the waist of one to throw them into the path of another, dipped my head to ram my horns into the chest of a half-made tiger.
Corpse by corpse, mutt by mutt, I was making my mark, but I was flagging.
Failing. My last surge of energy was already waning, and I didn’t have it in me to draw any more strength.
By now, Glory would be on the ship. The vessel would be on its way to Golth. She would be safe.
A small consolation that made every agony bearable.
I stumbled and fell to one knee. Three wolves stalked towards me, human eyes on canine faces, their bodies a twisted mix of person and beast. They promised death, and I was ready to accept it.
A whoosh of air behind me made me spin around, and I found myself staring once more at Donal.
The wounds I’d given him had already begun to heal, and he looked rejuvenated after his flight.
He stood over me, his hands on his hips, his grin arrogant.
I couldn’t rise from the muck, too exhausted to stand.
He had me, and he knew it. I wouldn’t give up, but there was no way I could overpower him in my current bloody and ragged state.
Yet as I stared him down, determined to keep my eyes open to face my end, a burst of thunder shook the ground beneath me. The midday sky darkened to midnight black as heavy clouds rolled in out of nowhere. Lightning flashed, brightening the hundreds of creatures surrounding me.
Energy sparked in the air, crept under my skin, invigorated muscles I’d believed too fatigued to move again.
The mutts, driven by their animal instincts, tensed.
Some whined, some cowered, some tried to flee but couldn’t, trapped by the sheer, wild number of them.
Donal’s expression filled with alarm, and he held his hands at his sides to keep his balance as a tremor rumbled through the earth.
It was subtle at first, but quickly grew more intense, more erratic.
Still on my knee, I curled my claws into the dirt to hold myself steady, while the mutts were tossed around, some trampled by those caging them, others tumbling into newly formed fissures as the ground opened.
Something wet splashed across my cheek, and I looked up to find the rain had begun, evolving from droplets to a deluge so quickly I could have believed the sky had split apart.
It fell so hard and so fast I could barely make out anything within a few metres of me.
But something compelled me to look towards the rock wall where I’d left Glory. Using my wings to guard my back, I found my feet to stand on trembling legs and squinted through the rain.
When the next bolt of lightning forked across the sky, I spotted her on top of the wall, magic limning her beautiful form where she stood with her hands wide at her sides. I felt her stare on me, knew the moment it left me and slid to the mutts. To Donal.
And then she wasn’t standing but levitating. Her hair, so often tamed in its tight, controlled bun, flew around her head, the weather shifting with her as she rose higher. She and nature readying their rebellion.
“What in the hells is that?” Donal demanded.
My lips pulled back in a feral smile. “A goddess.”
She was risking everything by coming back.
Her life. Her country. My life if she lost control.
Yet in this moment, I found I didn’t much care.
My love for her poured through me as thickly as the falling rain, and the unfamiliar emotion spurred my heart like a second wind.
It was magic itself. An untapped and untested strain of power that I refused to waste.
A bolt of lightning cut through the mutts, sending corpses, Donal, and mud flying into the horde. The shock was enough to remind my enemies why they were here, and as one, they turned towards me.
I bared my teeth and rose to my full height. I would not succumb under Glory’s furious gaze. If she was going to watch me fall, she would watch me fight first.
With another cry, I threw myself at Donal. In the distraction of Glory’s arrival, he didn’t notice me until it was too late, and I bore him to the ground with my claws deep in his neck.
“Don’t worry, brother,” I spat, covering his face in blood and spittle. “You won’t be alone in the hells for long. I’ll make sure Leto and Sabina join you soon.”
His eyes widened, but it was the only reaction he had time for before I tore his spine out through his throat.