CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX #2
I ducked just in time for a guard to throw the dagger toward me, the silver weapon soaring above my head and into the waiting hands of the leader.
Xylos wrestled on the ground with one guard, his hands and shadows wrestling at the dagger pointed at his navel.
The other guard was propped up against the stone pillar, his hand pressing against a wound on his neck.
My eyes shot back to the leader, just in time to see his gloved fingers clasp tightly around the hilt. Before I could stride forward, he brought the dagger above his head, bringing it down, aiming for Vesuva’s neck.
Vesuva moved quickly, the knife nicking a few scales off of her tail. She shrieked and slithered away from him, her body coiling beneath a pillar as she lapped her tongues at the wound.
The leader scrambled to his feet. He barely straightened before he dove for me.
The shadow-dagger met his longsword with a jarring crack. A shower of dark sparks erupted, causing a vibration to trail up my arm. The spirits buzzed, their bodies tightening again, forming an even more solidified weapon.
I swung again, but he parried my blow, driving my shadow-dagger aside. I aimed a second strike to his shoulder, yet the man aimed lower than I anticipated, the tip of his weapon dangerously close to my thigh. I staggered backwards but his body lurched forward, following my movements.
Just as the silver dagger was about to pierce my skin, the chamber tilted under an immense and bone-deep rumble of energy. A guttural growl accompanied the shift, a sound so angry it seemed to vibrate the very stones of the floor.
A section of the defensive shield Talon had erected broke away from the wall and shot forward with a speed that blurred into a streak of midnight.
It was a swirling vortex of black smoke, a fluid and hungry mass that molded itself around the leader’s dagger, consuming the poisoned metal in its cold depths.
I gaped at the sudden offense, my eyes darting to Talon in a flare of appreciation, only to find him stumbling.
His left hand was plastered firmly to his gut, his fingers dark with blood as he swayed, struggling to remain upright.
The wall of spirits behind him weakened in response, fading into a transparent and ghostly haze of gray shadows.
The leader’s greedy eyes latched onto the sight of Talon’s wound, and the look of triumph there caused a welcomed flare of possessiveness to stir deep in my gut.
I shifted my weight and pointed my shadow-dagger directly at his chest, right where his heart beat beneath the finery of his station. The gleaming tip pierced through his armor with a hiss, halting his movements.
He raised his hands in a mocking gesture of surrender, his expression shifting into something deceptively mild. “Let us speak about this, shall we?”
My eyes narrowed and my lip pulled up in a snarl of pure disgust. “I think we have said enough.”
His lips pursed, and the lingering calmness in his eyes irked me to the very core.
I pressed the weapon forward and the guard let out a choked shout as the point buried itself deep into the muscled skin of his chest.
“You do not walk into our city and cast demands our way,” I deadpanned.
His lifted hands slowly dropped until they rested on the top of the weapon with a wince. But before he could twist the object from my grip, a loud shriek tore through the grounds.
My gaze snapped to Xylos, who held a flailing guard ensnared within a thick, constricting band of shadow.
The man looked like a mummified corpse unearthed from the dark depths of the world, his limbs bound so tightly he was little more than a frantic, struggling shape.
His legs kicked out, but they never made contact.
His face was already turning a swollen shade of blue as the shadows stifled the very breath from his lungs.
I shifted my gaze toward the central pillar to find Vesuva had finished the final guard.
Her massive, scaly body was a crushing weight around his midsection, her tail pulled into a tight and lethal coil just beneath her heads.
Dark blood oozed from a fresh wound along her side, the crimson drops staining the guard’s bare legs where his trousers had been torn to ribbons in the struggle.
A faint and shimmering mist began to seep from the man’s mouth, his eyes, and even his ears, drawn out by some invisible and ravenous force. The silver vapor swirled through the air before being inhaled into Vesuva’s twin, open mouths.
With one last strangled and hollow gasp, the man fell limp within her embrace, his spirit consumed until his body was nothing more than a discarded husk.
In my momentary lapse of focus, the guard’s hands clamped over mine and rotated the hilt of the shadow-dagger, twisting my wrists at an angle that forced an agonizing scream from my throat.
Tears blurred the corners of my vision as a white-hot pain shot up my arms, yet I refused to let go, my fingers locking around the hilt with a desperate strength.
A choked gasp from behind made me look over my shoulder, my heart stuttering in my chest as my eyes caught the sight of Talon. He was writhing on the cold stone, his massive frame heaving as he fought for steady breaths.
A sob tore through my chest and with a shout of anger, I threw the entire weight of my body into the guard, shoving the shadow-dagger forward with every ounce of my will until the blade buried itself deep within his heart.
The guard made a wet, clicking sound in his throat, his widened eyes locking onto mine in a final moment of staggered shock, just as the first dark spill of blood began to overflow from his open mouth.
His whitening form swayed to the left, and then right, before collapsing into a lifeless heap at my feet.
I killed him.
Without sparing the corpse a second glance, I spun on my heel and rushed toward Talon’s side, my knees hitting the stone.
He was gasping, the sound a terrible gurgle that had my stomach bottoming out. Beads of sweat stood out against his paling skin, as he ground his teeth together, the muscles of his jaw leaping.
“I will be okay… little flame,” he managed to grit out.
“You do not look okay!” I cried out.
I looked across the courtyard, my eyes wide and searching until I found the shadows where Bater and Neya stood.
“Get Leona!” I screamed.
My hands were shaking as I reached for him, my fingers swiping the sweat-matted hair from his forehead. I shifted my weight, pressing both palms down onto the wound in his side.
Black blood, thick and shimmering with a strange iridescent sheen, began to seep between my fingers, coating my skin.
I glanced over my shoulder to see Xylos approaching, his face a mask of grim resolve. He dropped the shadow-bound guard beside us, the man still writhing and thrashing against the constricting bands that mummified his body.
Talon’s eyes snapped open, a flicker of fire returning to the navy depths.
“Take him… to the Thrynn Chambers,” he forced out.
The guard’s eyes widened until the whites showed all around, his mouth moving in a desperate attempt to plead, but his words remained muffled and strangled by the shifting shadows over his lips.
Talon’s gaze drifted past him, landing on Neya and Bater as they approached.
“Dispose of the other two,” he commanded.
They eyed him with a weary uncertainty, Neya’s gaze darting between him and the towering form of Xylos.
“Yes, Master,” they muttered in unison.
Talon cleared his throat, a wet, hacking sound that made me flinch, and he tried to push himself upward.
I immediately moved to support his shoulders, my arms straining under the solid weight of him. He leaned into me, his breathing hot against my neck, before he drew in a deep breath.
“It will not be long before another round of guards enters our domain,” his voice boomed. “I want everyone to prepare for war.”