CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE #2
Their progress slowed as the Shades pressed in.
The Warriors couldn’t use their bows anymore, as too many creatures managed to slip through the ranks.
Evylin’s bow flashed amethyst and switched to a sword.
Ethenn did the same with the Wind Relic.
And at the front, Brea swore, then tossed her bow to Vayden and drew her staff in one swift movement.
As Evylin swiped down one Shade, its shard spray sliced her across the cheek.
Almost instantly, it began to swirl from the interior, sucking in everything around it.
Evylin slid forward just as Deckard grabbed her arm, keeping her from falling into the black hole.
Thom’s heart hammered as he watched several surrounding Shades get pulled into the void, ripping and tearing apart. Then it blipped out of existence.
Thom sucked in a sharp breath but knew there was nothing to do but join the fray. “Raff,” he called.
“Thommy?”
“Let’s end this.”
Rafferty twirled his short swords excitedly. “Try not to get yourself killed, eh?”
Without another word, the two of them slipped among the ranks of their comrades.
Wherever holes appeared, they slid in, slicing and knocking back the Shades.
The blowback of the shards ripped through the group, leaving slashes on everyone’s arms, faces, and bodies.
Together, they relied on one another to steer clear of the black holes.
It was a constant battle of wounds and retreats.
The volume of the hum announced another wave of Shades.
Drenched in sweat, Thom checked his troop.
The attack had forced them to a crawl, and they were only halfway back to the entrance.
Already, his muscles felt fatigued as he brushed a trickle of blood away from his eyes.
Rafferty still fought eagerly, but Vayden had run out of arrows.
With the pressure intensifying on all sides, the troop had scrunched together in a strange huddle.
It was getting harder and harder to avoid the black holes each shattered Shade created.
Thom’s stomach sank, and the terrifying truth settled: If they didn’t do something soon, they were going to die.
“Auden,” Deckard’s voice commanded across the top of the group, “give me the Relic.”
Thom blanched but kept fighting.
“No!” Auden yelled back.
While attempting to dodge the blowback of a dying Shade, Isla slipped. Vayden caught her, but they had to scramble frantically backward to avoid the black hole, nearly tripping Ilain in the process.
“Damn it, Auden,” Deckard yelled. “Give me the Relic!”
“You’ll black out!”
“We’re about to die!”
Thom yanked Ethenn back as a black hole nearly sucked him in.
A shard embedded into Brea’s arm.
Rafferty lost a sword to a void, the weapon disintegrating as the gravitational pull tore it to pieces.
“Auden!”
“Fine!”
Deckard and Auden angled toward the center, arms outstretched.
Cautiously, Auden tossed the Space Relic across the twelve-inch gap.
Thom watched with fear as the golden and onyx necklace spun, glittering across the darkness.
It landed in Deckard’s palm, the precious metals springing to life with an additional, iridescent glow.
Within an instant, the Shades went still.
The creatures straightened and turned to Deckard, awaiting his command.
The troop relaxed, their breaths puffing out in exhaustion and shock.
“Thank Allore,” Rafferty wheezed.
Thom wiped the sweat from his brow. It seemed that Deckard had been right from the start. They should have allowed him to carry the Relic. They could have simply walked out of the Keep.
But then, Evylin gasped in frightful panic, and Thom whirled just as one desperate word burst from her lips. “No.”
Deckard’s knees buckled, and his eyes rolled back.
Thom’s heart lurched. “Jonn!”
He hit the ground, unconscious, and the Shades surged forward once again.
The troop, worn out and ragged, jumped back into action. Thom’s arms felt like lead, but he slashed, attempting to keep the charging Shades away from where the Relic lay beside his brother’s crumpled form.
Evylin dove over Deckard, protecting him from the attack of the Shades. Thom could see the creatures cutting into her flesh as they fought to pry the Relic from beneath the couple. He took a step closer to help, but a swell of golden light knocked them back.
“Evylin,” Auden called, “get up.”
Evylin scrambled to her feet, now gripping a glittering black sword. Its onyx-colored metal gleamed like the Relic, and vibrant colors illuminated its edges. The sword was long, sleek, and deadly, and it fit perfectly in her hand.
“Vayd, Raff,” Brea ordered. “Get Deckard.”
With the Night sword still in her other hand, Evylin spun. “Brea, catch.”
Though mid-attack, Brea lifted her hand and caught the Night Relic. It beamed a bright violet, then morphed into a sharp-ended staff, perfectly sized to the Warrior’s height. She stashed her old weapon across her back and spun into action.
Thom’s heart throbbed in his throat. While Rafferty and Vayden hoisted Deckard between them, the rest of the troop surrounded them like a guard. They still had a great expanse to cover. Now down to seven fighters, they were all running low on energy. But Thom wouldn’t let them fail.
Tightening his grip on his sword, Thom fought with all the vigor he could muster. “Keep going,” he called. “Whatever you do, keep moving forward.”
Beside him, Ilain panted, but her jaw was tight with determination as she burned through a line of the Shades.
Isla sent out a gale that knocked several creatures from their feet.
Auden finished them with a burst of light.
The three Warriors fought with their glowing swords, all of them slinking back to avoid the deathblows of the creatures.
And Thom fought, unaided by magic, as he struggled to defend his friends.
Beside him, a subtle glitter caught Thom’s attention.
He glanced just long enough to find a swirling cloud of onyx shards materializing out of the Space sword and descending over Evylin’s arm.
The magic rolled around her, covering her in a shield of protection that lashed out whenever a Shade got too near.
The magic ignored Thom and Isla on her other side but defended Evylin effortlessly.
“How are you doing that?” Thom asked in awe, though he kept his attention on the fight.
“I don’t know,” Evylin admitted, casting a swift glance at him.
Thom grinned dryly. “Well, keep it up, eh? And if you’ve got some extra to spare, I wouldn’t complain.”
The magic moved like an extension of Evylin. It attacked the Shades with each thrust of her sword and protected her like armor. She was an unstoppable Bonded Warrior at the height of her power.
One step at a time, they worked their way back through the Keep.
Slowly.
Very slowly.
Defending Deckard, Rafferty, and Vayden made the fight even more difficult.
The Shades were getting more furious and more numerous by the second.
The seven fighters grew increasingly tired.
Their breaths came out with ragged desperation, and Thom wondered if any of them felt the burn in their lungs like he did.
Did magic help with that? Or were they all on the brink of collapse too?
Isla’s gust of wind knocked a large portion of Shades from the front, providing a path.
Auden, Brea, and the men carrying Deckard hurried through the line.
Thom abandoned his post beside Evylin, desperate to stick by his brother’s side.
But then the Shades filled the gap he’d left behind, funneling through and cutting Evylin, Isla, Ethenn, and Ilain off from the rest of the party.
Thom’s gut clenched. With swift precision, the Shades created a wall between them, attacking now on all sides.
Three fighters defended Deckard, Rafferty, and Vayden.
But three of their most powerful members were left behind.
He could see that the four other members of the troop were struggling to thin out the Shades, but they couldn’t work fast enough.
Thom muttered a curse but charged into the front, slashing and ducking, each kill bringing him perilously close to death. “Auden,” he shouted, “you got any tricks up your sleeve?”
“I’m running out of energy,” Auden called back.
“Would the Night Relic help?”
“It would only drain me faster. And we don’t need two bodies to carry out of here.”
“Damn.” Thom cut down another Shade, narrowly missing its black hole when he heard Rafferty yelp.
“Thommy!” the weasel called.
Thom whirled, but Brea was already there. She slashed the Shades that drew too near the three men in the center, saving them from certain death.
Heaving a single relieved breath, Thom turned back to the front, determined to get them out of there.
If they could get Deckard to safety first, then they could go back for the others.
The Shades couldn’t leave the Keep, could they?
So all they needed to do was get Deckard into the antechamber, and then they could ensure the safety of the rest.
With a surge, Thom slashed and hacked and pushed ahead.
His eyes stung with the sweat and blood that trickled into them.
He couldn’t see clearly, but it didn’t matter.
He had to keep pushing onward. He had to get them to safety.
This was his one purpose. This was his redemption.
If he could save Deckard and Evylin, everything else he’d screwed up in his life would be atoned for.
He had to get them out.
Thom cut down another Shade. It burst into a supernova of shards, slicing his arms and face. He barreled back to avoid the void twisting in its gut. And in doing so, turned himself straight into the path of a Shade.
The creature brought its knife-like arm down, and Thom tried to raise his sword, but he couldn’t move fast enough.
A sharp, piercing sensation tore through his gut.